


Never, Never

by Sunshines_Fabulous_Legs



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
Genre: Adult Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Amnesia, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Engagement, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Princes & Princesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25519012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshines_Fabulous_Legs/pseuds/Sunshines_Fabulous_Legs
Summary: Two princes of two Faerie Courts. One engagement. Zero past. One secret.Richie and Eddie are betrothed by their parents, two faerie monarchs. They don't have the best impression of each other. At least, they won't admit they think otherwise. But as their betrothal year progresses, both princes experience dreams and visions that force them to ask themselves; is the other prince a total stranger?Romance, faeries, amnesia, angst, and my attempt at a Lemony Snickett-esque narration. Will it live up to your expectations? "Never, Never."(But in all honesty, I hope it lives up to your expectations, I worked really hard on this)
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

I know you’re here to escape the pain that was the ending of  _ It: Chapter 2 _ . I mean, it’s all that I’ve been trying to do ever since the movie came out, and I think that I’m close to replacing that ending with the fanon ending where everyone is alive and happy (including you Stan).

Besides, you’ve already read the tags so you know exactly what’s going to happen here. Richie and Eddie will fall in love after some angst. You already know the entire cast, unless you’re not a fan of  _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream _ by William Shakespeare. Which if you’re not, what is wrong with you? It’s got faeries, romance, terrible actors who don’t have the self-awareness to comprehend their own inadequacies. But I’m sure you’ll be able to catch on as we go.

Here enters the first player in this faerie tale; Richie. You already know what he looks like, but there are some key differences you need in order to understand this story. In addition to being a prince, Richie is a sylph. So take your human!Richie, give him long elf ears and a pair of dragonfly wings coming from his shoulder blades, dressed in medieval tunics and trousers, usually in greens and browns. Because those two colors were the colors of the Gloaming Court, a faerie court that ruled over a large forest that only the bravest or most foolish humans dared to enter. And Richie is the prince of this faerie court, the son of King Oberon.

Today, Richie waited at the edge of the Gloaming Forest at the top of a tree that only a flying faerie could reach. But he wasn’t anywhere near the human settlements on the edge of his father’s land. Rather, he looked out at the calm expanse of the ocean. For that day was the Midsummer Solstice, an important holiday for faerie-kind. A celebration of the magic the Earth and the Sun gave to their children, of life and love. All of that interested Richie, though mostly the celebrating part. He couldn’t really remember exactly why they would celebrate this holiday, despite the efforts of several dozen tutors in his life. Rather, this year Oberon had invited the neighboring Seelie Court to celebrate with them.

The Seelie Court rules over the ocean as the Gloaming Court rules over the forest. While Richie’s court had creatures such as elves, sylphs, salamanders, and pixies, the Seelie Court was home to merfolk, undines, kelpies, sirens, and other aquatic faeries. Though Richie was only really interested in the royal family; the mermaid Seelie queen, Titania and her two children, a princess and a prince, who were said to be the most two beautiful children in all of the Seelie kingdom. Richie has heard that every siren is jealous of the princess, and that every female in the Seelie court fell ill with a broken heart for a month after the prince announced that he was only interested in men.

So, eternally horny Richie was mostly interested in the princess and prince.

“Careful,” a voice Richie was all too familiar with said. “You could fall and break your neck from this height.”

“Maybe that’s the goal,” Richie said as he flutters his wings.

Robin Goodfellow, the Puck of the Gloaming Court, stood on a branch that shouldn’t be able to support his weight. Robin was the right-hand man of Oberon, as every Puck has served the Gloaming Monarch as long as the Gloaming Court has existed. First and foremost, the Puck is a prankster or jester, bringing joy and embarrassment to the Gloaming Court. I strongly recommend that the second most powerful person in any government not be a joker, but it works with the fae, so they’re free to continue as they will.

“My father forbade me from being in the party that greets the Seelie Court,” Richie said.

“For good reason,” Robin replied.

“Name one reason why I shouldn’t be down there?”

“You’re entire life.”

Richie shrugs and looks back at the sea. “Fair enough.”

Far below the two faeries, the entourage led by King Oberon broke out of the tree line and walked onto the beach. Richie could barely make out his father from this height, with Robin walking right behind him.

“Okay, how are you able to do that?” Richie asks.

“Practice. Or a spell that tethers me to Oberon so my body will mirror everything he does.”

Richie briefly contemplated flying down to his father and doing whatever it took to get Oberon to dance so Robin’s body would do it as well. But not only would Oberon punish Richie for that, Robin would get back into his body and end the spell long before Richie got down there.

“Besides,” Robin said, “you’re going to be far more interesting to be with than the courtiers Oberon brought with him.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“It was.”

“Quiet, I think they’re coming.”

Richie and Robin looked at the water as it crashed against the beach, the waves at first hiding the heads of the Seelie faeries. Some of them looked humanoid, except for the runes tattooed all over their body, and the long fish tails that shifted into two legs when they left the water. The blue-green horse bodies of the kelpies, the blue skinned undines, even a cecaelia with eight inky black tentacles crawled across the beach.

Richie knew that the tall faerie at the front of the entourage had to be queen Titania. He could feel her queenly presence even from the top of the tree. Anyone could really, because beings as ancient and as powerful as Titania radiate magic that even those of us who have no magical ability could feel it.

And then of course, the two figures behind Titania had to be the Seelie Princess and Prince. And thus enters the second player in our little drama; Eddie, the Seelie Prince. He, like his mother Titania and sister Maeve, was merfolk. Merfolk tattoo magic runes on their skin as spell books aren’t the best option for them. Merfolk don’t wear much clothing as it tends to make swimming that difficult. I mean, that’s why skinning dipping is popular. They tended to wear silver necklaces and bracelets, sometimes even breastplates, though I don’t recommend using silver as actual armor. It’s expensive and you can get better materials for much cheaper. And the merfolk tended to wear medium length skirts whenever they ventured outside of the water to keep things safe for children. The latter is the only thing that Eddie currently wears. Every single one of his magic runes and carved muscles on display for anyone to view. If Richie had been anywhere close to the Seelie Prince, he wouldn’t be able to say a coherent sentence for at least a full minute.

King Oberon greeted Queen Titania like an old friend, then turned his attention to her two children. “Princess Maeve, Prince Eddie, it is an honor to welcome you to my court.”

Maeve dipped her golden-blonde head in a bow. “It is a pleasure to be here for the Solstice.”

Eddie bowed. “I look forward to the celebration,” he blatantly lied. Eddie has never been a huge fan of having two-dimensional movement, and his legs are always itchy. But he had promised his mother to behave tonight. After Titania had politely threatened him.

“I have much to show you,” Oberon said, “Much to show your entire court.” As Oberon led the Seelie Court guests through his forest, Eddie wished that the day would end and he would get back to his underwater life.


	2. Chapter 2

Look, if I have to say that Eddie’s life isn’t going to be the same after today, have you ever read a story before? Seriously, this is basically Foreshadowing 101. And we already know that Richie and Eddie are going to end up together by the end of this story anyway. So, moving along.  
  
Richie now raced back to the Gloaming Palace to get back home before his father. That morning, Oberon had asked Richie to stay there, which Richie took as an open invitation to follow. Due to Richie’s wings, and Oberon slowing his pace back to stay with the faeries unaccustomed to land, Richie got home and into his room long before Oberon could even see the palace.  
  
“And where were you today?” an invader in Richie’s room asked. “Out disobeying your father again?’  
  
“Oh fuck you Bev,” Richie said to his cousin. Lying across Richie’s bed was Beverly, Richie’s cousin on both their mothers’ sides, and a salamander, or fire faerie. Her eyes were large and golden, and her hair glowed a dull orange and floated around her head like flames. All salamanders can turn their hair into actual flames, but they don’t as its rude in faerie culture to light your cousin’s bed on fire.  
  
“No, go fuck one of Titania’s children. I mean, that’s what you were going to see, wasn’t it?”  
  
Richie didn’t respond, and Beverly got up from the bed. “It was either that, or you’re planning something for tonight. And I don’t know which one I would prefer.”  
  
“You know me, I can answer every question you ask me with ‘Both.’”  
  
Beverly laughed and ruffled Richie’s hair. “As long as you don’t exclude me from any of your plans.”  
  
“Oh, do you have something personal with the Seelie Court?”  
  
“Me? A fire faerie having a problem with an underwater court? I have no idea what you could mean.”  
  
“Shame,” Richie said. He let go of Beverly then walked to the door, and the moment before he left says, “I was going to tell you my plan if I thought you’d be interested.”  
  
Beverly picked up a pillow and hurled it at Richie. Her hair flared a bright yellow, her action devoid of any anger.  
  
While Richie brought Beverly into his plan that will in no way go horribly wrong, Oberon and the rest of the Seelie Court reached the Gloaming Palace. Eddie found the building oddly familiar in the fact that it’s built from living trees and the Seelie Palace from living coral. How the spires and walls twisted into whatever shapes nature wants. His legs still itched, and now ached from the long hike. In reality, the Gloaming Palace was rather close to the sea, but that’s what happens when you don’t use your legs.  
  
The servants and courtiers directed most of the Seelie Court guests to different places in the palace. Where they could either rest or help with preparations for the Solstice. The Seelie royal family stayed with King Oberon and Robin.  
  
“Unfortunately,” Oberon said, “my son couldn’t join me to greet you by the seaside.” True, even though the reason being that Oberon didn’t want his son to join them. “And I would love for you to meet him.”  
  
Robin took the hint and went to find the prince.  
  
“Yes,” Titania said, “we’ve all heard stories about the prince.”  
  
“I am so sorry about that,” Oberon replied.  
  
Eddie laughed, “And you want us to meet him?”  
  
“I know,” Oberon said, “I'm not thrilled about it either.”  
  
At that point, Robin located Richie charging down the hallway with Beverly in tow. Richie, having explained his entire plot to Beverly and them having just set it into motion, stopped, and whispered to Beverly to make sure the final pieces were in place. Beverly scampered off, and Robin escorted Richie down to meet the Seelie royal family.  
  
True to what I said before, Richie was incapable of coherent thoughts when he saw Eddie. The prince standing there wearing only a skirt just long enough to keep him decent, runes tattooed over bare skin highlighting his muscles. He knew that the prince was a merfolk, but he wondered how much siren blood he had in him. “Queen Titania,” Oberon said, “Maeve, Eddie, my son Richie.”  
  
Maeve and Titania bowed to Richie. But Richie didn’t notice them, his eyes, head, and dick fixed on the Seelie Prince. Eddie looked back at Richie. While he wasn’t as interested in Richie as Richie was in him, he did make Eddie feel things he hadn't felt about anyone else.  
  
“A pleasure to meet you,” Titania said. Richie nodded to her and bows.  
  
“Now if you would follow me,” Oberon said, “a lunch has been prepared to welcome you.”  
  
While I said that Richie wouldn’t be able to speak for a full minute, in theory, Richie was much worse in reality. He couldn’t say anything during lunch, or tea afterwards. Oberon took this as a blessing, but Robin was worried about the prince. Okay, he was a little grateful that Richie wasn’t doing anything to offend the Seelie royal family, but Robin was more concerned. Well, he was more grateful than concerned, but that’s beside the point.  
  
Eddie acted as if the prince wasn’t checking him out the entire lunch. The attention made him feel flattered, but he found it a little weird on how fixated he is on Eddie. Though Eddie has to admit that he’s mentally focused on Richie as much as Richie’s physically focused on him. So after tea, as Oberon shows them the legendary Gloaming Gardens, Eddie decided to speak with the Gloaming Prince.  
  
“I can give you an imprint if you want,” Eddie said to Richie. It takes Richie a few moments to register that Eddie spoke.  
  
“A what?”  
  
“Imprints. Do you not have them in the Gloaming Court?”  
  
“I feel like my confusion should be enough of an answer.”  
  
Eddie rolled his eyes, a gesture which Richie finds cute, their parents gone into the maze of plants. “We print words or images on sheets of silver. Since you won’t stop fucking staring.”  
  
“And you’re offering me one of yourself?” Richie’s eyebrows wiggled and his wings buzzed. “Okay. So long as the imprint has you without that skirt.”  
  
Eddie shoved Richie away from him, refusing to admit that the same thought had crossed his mind.  
  
The pair of them walked further into the garden in an attempt to find their parents, Eddie pointendly keeping a good distance from Richie. “So,” Eddie said when he realized they weren’t going to find Oberon or Titania, “I’ve heard stories about you.”  
  
“There’s no way this is going to lead to a good conversation.”  
  
“I mean, have you heard anything about me? Or my sister?” Richie didn’t notice how Eddie seemed to add the second sentence on as an afterthought.  
  
“Well, I heard that the two of you make sirens jealous, and I can see those weren’t rumors.”  
  
Eddie nodded. “Some of the stories I’ve heard haven’t been all that bad.”  
  
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”  
  
“That was a compliment, asshole.” Eddie had to stop walking to process Richie’s stupidity. Eddie hoped it would be the last time he would do this. We all know it wouldn’t.  
  
“I mean that, the Gloaming Court seems to like you.”  
  
“I mean they have to if they want to stay alive.”  
  
“I don’t think you’re father would kill anyone if they didn’t like his son.”  
  
“Who said anything about my father? Besides, who doesn’t love a dashingly handsome prince?”  
  
Eddie moved up to an apple tree. “I’ve never actually seen an apple before.” He clearly was trying to change the subject, and Richie caught on.  
  
“Really?” I mean, it’s not like that’s the only apple tree in the entire world,” Richie said, allowing the conversation to drift. “Has this been the furthest from the ocean you’ve ever been?”  
  
“Walking is just so restrictive.” Eddie pointed up at an apple at the very top of the tree. “If we were underwater and I wanted that, I could just swim up and grab it. Here . . .”  
  
“I could lift you up if you want that apple.”  
  
“It’s just an example.”  
  
“Okay, here we go!” Richie bent over and shoved his head between Eddie’s legs. Eddie yelled as Richie stood up, the Gloaming Prince carrying the Seelie one on his shoulders.  
  
That’s when Richie realized Eddie wasn’t wearing anything underneath the skirt.  
  
Eddie cried out again. “For the love of—fuck!” Richie had nearly lost his balance due to the added weight of Eddie on his shoulders and the weight of Eddie’s dick on the back of his neck.  
  
“Just grab the apple!”  
  
“Put me down this is uncomfortable for both of us!”  
  
“You’re already up there just grab the fucking apple!”  
  
“Alright! Fuck!” Eddie snatched the apple nearest to him, which almost made Richie topple over again. “And fucking keep your eyes closed as I get down.”  
  
“I’m going to drop you if I do.”  
  
“Well that’s better than you sneaking a peek at me.”  
  
So Richie obliged and had his eyes closed as he helped Eddie down. Richie dropped Eddie.  
  
And he got a good look up Eddie’s skirt.  
  
“Mission accomplished, you got the apple.”  
  
“I told you didn’t even want this damn apple!”  
  
“Then can I have it?”  
  
“No!”  
  
“Well you don’t want it.”  
  
“And I don’t want you to have it either.”  
  
“Are you two done yet?” Maeve asked. The two princes turned and saw Eddie’s sister standing at the end of the pathway next to a hydrangea bush.  
  
“How long have you been standing there?” Eddie asked.  
  
“Long enough. Mother and King Oberon are looking for you two. The celebration is about to start.” Maeve gave them both a look that neither Richie or Eddie wanted to interpret, then left.  
  
After a moment, Richie asked, “So can I have that apple?”  
  
Eddie glared at Richie, and without breaking eye contact took a large bite of the apple. “Sure,” he said, mouth still full of apple.  
  
“You decide to grace me with an indirect kiss? I feel so honored.”  
  
“You’re impossible,” Eddie said as he stormed after his sister.  
  
Richie’s mouth lingered a bit too long on the bite mark.


	3. Chapter 3

The thing that really irritated Eddie about the situation with the apple tree wasn’t that Richie hadn’t listened to him, that he fell and still felt sore, or even that he got rid of the first apple he tried after liking how it tasted. Because in all honesty, that was a stupid thing to do. But pride makes us do stupid things. Pride and pettiness. But oh boy do they feel good.

No, what bothered Eddie the most was how he had embarrassed himself in front of the Gloaming Prince. And it wasn’t because of the stories he’d heard about Richie being a notorious prankster, and that this might come back to haunt him someway. He kind of liked the prince, in they way you like someone you’ve only known for less than an entire day. And part of him wondered if Richie wouldn’t be interested after that fiasco. Though in some ways, the Gloaming Prince was infuriating, and it might be a bit nice to have Richie leave him alone.

And Richie was leaving him alone. The celebration started right as the sun was setting, and Richie was moving through the crowd of both Gloaming and Seelie faeries, as if he was the popular prince of both courts.

Eddie probably would have spent most of the celebration with his friends Ben or Stan. But he hadn’t seen Ben anywhere since they had come to the palace. And Stan was too busy talking to a pixie in the Gloaming Court about the birds native to the Gloaming Court.

So Eddie was thankful when the tall, dark-skinned elf came up to him. “My prince,” the elf said, even though he clearly wasn’t part of the Seelie Court and therefore Eddie wasn’t actually his prince.

“Good evening . . .” Eddie replied, ending his sentence in a way that doesn’t sound like he isn’t done speaking to indirectly ask the elf for his name.

“Michael, or Mike if you prefer. I’ve heard that you’re one of the best mages in the Seelie Court.”

“Even if I wasn’t, no one dare say otherwise about their prince.”

Eddie is still one of the best mages in the Seelie Court. He just likes being facetious.

“Well, I am the head librarian of the Gloaming Palace.” That sentence piqued Eddie’s interest like baby seals pique most people’s interest. “And I can tell you aren’t quite enjoying yourself out here.”

“Oh fuck you, I’m having the time of my life,” Eddie said, like the awkward introvert who was dragged to a party by an extrovert friend and said friend goes off, leaving the introvert to hover next to a wall the entire time wishing that there at least was a dog at the party. “But I guess I could take a look. For like a minute.”

Eddie was in no way planning on only spending a minute in that library. He probably would have spent the entire night there, and the whole next day. He wouldn’t have left until his mother searched for him, worried that something terrible happened to him, and in her despair, worry, and anger, assume that the Gloaming Court had taken her son. She would then wage war on the Gloaming Court and the battle would devastate both courts, killing everyone and causing humanity to eventually believe that faeries are just creatures of myth.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen for two reasons. One, Titania and Oberon have a good relationship and Titania wouldn’t wage war on him and Oberon would have helped Titania search for her son. The second reason is that Eddie never actually got to the Gloaming Court’s library.

For at the same time Eddie and Mike had been talking about the library, Richie had befriended some Seelie Court kelpies. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Richie to make friends at a party. The problem was that these kelpies had a game they liked to play that was similar to Truth or Dare, except without the Truth part. And Richie, being the idiot that he is, asked for them to give him the biggest dare they could think of. So as Eddie and Mike were leaving for the library, Richie was preparing to do the dare, and Oberon and Titania moved to the dais at the center of the crowd.

The crowd mostly hushed when Oberon and Titania stood. There were a few voices, but those got silenced by Oberon and Titania’s glares.

“King Oberon and the Gloaming Court,” Titania said, “we all thank you for your hospitality on this Solstice night.”

“And we thank Queen Titania and the Seelie Court,” Oberon said, “for joining us to celebrate the new year.”

“But,” Titania said, “we have other reasons for celebrating together this night beyond Court hospitality.”

“Can Prince Richard of the Gloaming Court and Prince Edward of the Seelie Court join us?” Oberon called out.

Eddie gave Mike a look to apologize for not being able to join him in the library at the moment. Richie however . . .

The kelpies had heard about creatures that lived in the swamps of the Gloaming Court called bunyips. Nasty, territorial beasts that most smart faeries would avoid. While Richie is extremely intelligent, he isn’t the kind of smart that would avoid bunyips.

I’m sure that most of you know what’s happening next, so it should come as no surprise when Richie tramples into the party on the back of a bunyip. Most of the faeries screamed. Some ran in terror. A few fainted. One of the Seelie faeries in utter panic put their head into a bowl of punch because it was the closest liquid. Fortunately, Richie had enough control over the bunyip that no one was within reach of the animal’s jaws and claws. But Eddie didn’t know that.

Eddie sprung forward and focused his magic. The runes across his chest glowed with a bright blue light. That light snaked down his arms, and when they reached his palms the light snapped towards the bunyip. The light wrapped around the bunyip’s legs, sending it crashing to the ground. Richie avoided this only because he snapped his wings open the moment he saw what Eddie was doing. The two princes looked at each other, Eddie with utter exasperation, Richie with awe and a little horniness.

“Dude!” one of the kelpies yelled when the bunyip had stopped rolling.

Eddie wanted to ask Richie what the hell he was thinking. Why he thought bringing this monster to the revel was a good idea. He wanted to wonder what possessed him to make him think that riding a creature like that was a good idea. A small part of Eddie briefly wanted to say that he wanted Richie to ride him like he rode the bunyip, but Eddie told himself that this was a brief, fleeting, momentary, temporary, and short-lived thought.

And of course we all know that if someone protests this much, it just makes it that much more true.

“What the fuck?” was what came out of Eddie’s mouth.

“Ta-da?” Richie said, unsure of what Eddie wanted.

“Why did you think it was a good idea to bring this into the middle of a party?”

“In my defense, I was dared to do it.”

“How does that make this situation any better? Now we have to deal with this . . .”

“That’s a bunyip.”

“This bunyip!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I thought about that beforehand.”

“I honestly doubt you think about anything beforehand.”

But Richie ignored that last statement. He turned to the bunyip and crouched near the creatures head, but obviously not close enough so the bunyip would snap at him and bite him in half. I mean, the story isn’t even close to being done so we already knew that.

“Hey girl,” Richie said, his voice low.

“How do you know that thing’s a girl!” Eddie shrieked. The bunyip snapped out at Eddie, causing the Seelie Prince to jump back.

“I think I know my Court.” Richie turned back to the bunyip. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re going to be fine. We had some fun crashing this revel, but now you can go back home, okay?”

The bunyip stopped thrashing against the magic ropes and paid attention to Richie.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you tonight. But I promise that it won’t happen again.”

The bunyip looked at Richie as if she were contemplating the deal.

“Would it be alright if I pet your head?”

The bunyip nodded after a moment.

“There, there,” Richie said. “We aren’t going to hurt you. In a minute, my friend here will break the spell, and you can go home.”

Eddie gave Richie a glare that said, “I am not your friend why the fuck would you say that to this thing?” as he didn’t want to say anything else and risk angering the creature. But since Richie wasn’t looking at Eddie, he didn’t catch any of it.

“Eddie?”

Eddie got that message, and undid the magic ropes. Once she was free, the bunyip got back on her feet. She looked at Richie for a moment, then licked him across the face with her long blue tongue.

Eddie groaned in disgust from seeing the saliva dripping down Richie’s face. Richie grinned at him as the bunyip returned back to her swamp.

“Forgive me Queen Titania,” Richie said, “but you had asked for me and your son before . . . all this.”

Titania gave Oberon a look that asked him just what the fuck had happened and why Richie was so calm about all this. Oberon didn’t see her as his focus was on Richie. He wasn’t angry or surprised at any of this because he had seen worse from his son.

But he was a little exasperated, because the announcement they had planned certainly was going to go over a lot less smoothly after the bunyip.

“Tonight,” Titania said in an attempt to regain control of the situation, “our celebration of the solstice as two courts marks the beginning of a stronger union between the green Gloaming Court and the underwater Seelie Court.”

The entire crowd said nothing to the announcement. Until Eddie said, “What the fuck?”


	4. Chapter 4

A common tool that authors use in writing is skipping things that happen in the story. There are three reasons for doing so. The first is because day to day life is filled with so much minute, pointless stuff that’s boring to read. For example:

Little Sally woke up a Wednesday morning.

She went into her bathroom.

She picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste.

She put on a dollop of toothpaste that was slightly bigger than a pea.

She brushed the front of her front teeth.

She brushed the front of her back teeth.

She brushed the back of her front teeth.

She brushed the back of her back teeth.

Sally brushed her tongue.

A nuclear bomb was dropped two blocks from Sally’s house and she was eviscerated immediately.

In that story, one would need to skip over Sally brushing her teeth so they can get straight to the main point of that story, which is about transdimensional killers realizing that they made the wrong choices with their lives and decide to open a bakery.

But the second reason that authors often skip over certain parts of the story is to let the readers fill in the gaps. It lets the readers into the creation process as they guess about the details. They put together the clues of what they’re missing and have fun while reading.

And the third reason is the author is lazy and just didn’t want to write out that scene.

I won’t tell you which I’m currently falling under as we jump a week later to Richie leading away an entourage to his new home of the Royal Faerie Engagement. To be brief, the couple of all royal engagements are required to live together for a year before the actual ceremony. Why? It’s tradition. I could write a book longer than  _ War and Peace _ about why this is a practice so this will suffice for now. Royal Faerie Engagements are binding, even more binding than actual faerie marriages. So, Richie and Eddie weren’t particularly looking forward to the next year of their lives.

“So,” Richie whispered to Beverly as they hiked through the tall trees, “if I just up and run, would you find me and live out our lives as lone faeries humans warn their children about?”

“Tempting. What sort of legends would the mortals tell about us?”

“Well, the obvious ones in which we kidnap children in the night. You’re just failing as a faerie if humans don’t tell that story about you.”

“Of course.”

“But why settle there? We could be the reason behind why a seven year drought lasts in the land.”

“You really want to cause a drought that lasts seven years.”

“Of course not. But I mean getting blamed for things well out of my ability is a life goal of mine.”

Beverly laughed at Richie’s aspirations. Though he could do a lot worse than getting blamed for a famine. Richie could have absolutely no aspirations at all. Though unfortunately for Richie, his main dream in life has been ruined by the mother of a very attractive prince.

And speaking of said prince, he's going to be returning to this story in just a few moments.

“Richie, look,” Beverly said. “It’s the sea.” Richie Had been so caught up with imaging how he would then stop the drought and save everyone and be worshipped as some sort of deity for the rest of eternity that he didn’t see the ocean peek out from the treeline.

“Looks like the water’s choppy today,” Richie said. “Hope the Seelie Court won’t have trouble getting out.”

But what Richie had mistaken for choppy water was actually the Seelie Court disturbing the waves. It took Richie and the rest of the Gloaming Court who had joined him to see the heads of different water faeries emerge from the sea and onto the beach. Undines, sirens, kelpies, and merfolk were some of the Seelie faeries who walked out of the ocean, at the front led by prince Eddie.

Eddie had decided to wear a longer skirt because he would never forget the first time he met Richie and he wore something very short. He also wore a shirt to try and cover himself up, but it was a mesh shirt because he still wanted Richie to look at him and he refused to admit it to himself like the emotional idiot he is.

Richie led the Gloaming faeries towards the beach, and Eddie marched up towards Richie, both princes pointedly not looking at each other. Beverly noticed where Richie’s attention wasn’t, and the kelpie walking next to Eddie saw the same thing.

But when the two princes were ten feet away from each other, they consciously acknowledged the other prince that they had been stealing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking, but it turned out they looked at each other at the same time which only served to make everything about this conversation that much more unpleasant.

“Prince Richard,” Eddie said.

“Prince Edward,” Richie replied.

Beverly rolled her eyes.

“So, do you know where we’re going?” Eddie asked.

“Do I ever have any idea of what’s going on?” Richie asked.

“My prince,” the kelpie standing next to Eddie said, “we were told that someone would meet us here and escort us to your betrothal palace.”

Now a kelpie is a creature from Celtic mythology. It looks like a greenish-blue horse that lives in the water, and can actually take human form. And this kelpie was currently in his human form. And this kelpie was named Ben.

I know that if you didn’t read the tags, you saw  _ It: Chapter Two _ , so you all know which faerie held Ben’s attention.

“Then where are they?” Eddie asked.

“Right here!” Robin said as he leapt out of a tree. This is the part where I would say that Robin caught an ankle on a branch and he fell face flat onto the ground. But I don’t want to anger any faerie that might be watching me.

Robin landed gracefully on the ground and bowed. “My two princes, if you will come with me, I shall show you an amazing secret.” The Puck dashed through the forest, and the two princes glanced at each other.

“Is he always like this?” Eddie asked.

“Yes, and it’s amazing.” Richie chased after Robin. Eddie shook his head at the other prince, then walked after him.

A few minutes later, Richie had caught up to Robin. The Puck wore a tunic and cape, the latter which was pinned with a crest that had a blue spiral. This little detail will become important later. The older faerie looked around and said, “Before we go any further, I want to give you an engagement gift.”

Richie didn’t like being reminded of his engagement, but he certainly wasn’t going to say no to a present. Robin reached into a pocket and pulled out a small leather bag. When Richie took it, he felt several rocks in the pouch. “What are these?” he asked as he peered inside. “Moonstones?” He pulled out one of the silvery-blue stones and held it up for Robin to see.

“I’m sure you’ll find these important eventually,” Robin said.

“Okay. But it’s a weird gift.”

But Robin knew that Richie would figure it out eventually.

“Where’s the Seelie prince?” Robin asked.

Richie looked behind him, and when he didn’t see Eddie said, “Probably not used to being out of the water this long.”

“Well, we can’t go any further until Eddie gets here,” Robin said. Which Richie took as “I want you to run back and pick up Eddie and bring him here.”

So Richie ran back to pick up Eddie to bring him to Robin. Richie found Eddie leading the other faeries through the forest.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Richie said.

“Where else would I be? I have no idea where exactly we’re going.” Eddie pointed over towards the kelpie. “We only know where to go because Ben’s been following your tracks.”

“Well that’s good because you need to come with me right now. I assume you know how to run.”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I?”

“Because you spend most of your time in the water and haven’t used your legs very much in your entire life.”

The glare Eddie gave Richie said “I hate how much you’re right right now, but I don’t want to admit it because you’re completely insufferable and part of me wants to kiss you but I refuse to acknowledge that part of me.”

“I could carry you,” Richie said.

“I don’t want you to carry me.”

“Too late. I’m picking you up.”

Richie did to Eddie what he said he was going to do.

“Stop squirming,” Richie said.

“Excuse you, I’m trying to keep myself covered.”

“There’s no one around to see you.”

“It’s the principle of it!” Eddie shouted as Richie ran off with him in his arms.

The rest of the faeries watched the trees where the two princes disappeared for a few seconds, until one of the kelpies that dared Richie to ride the bunyip said, “What the fuck?”

When Richie got back to Robin he said, “I got Eddie! What do you want to show us?”

“Could you first put me down?”

“I mean, I could.”

“For the love of all fucks, put me down Richie. And you had better put me down gently because I wouldn’t put it past you to just drop me and claim you were doing what I asked!”

Richie put Eddie down gently because he was about ninety percent certain he was going to drop Eddie and claim he was doing what Eddie asked.

“And, here we are,” Robin said as he parted a wall of leaves with his magic.

Richie and Eddie saw the lagoon first. The crescent beach that hugged the lagoon kept large waves away, keeping the water gentle and inviting. But the palace literally merged into the water, the blue spires blurring the line of structure and nature.

Then the palace itself. The blue material lightened the higher the spires went, bridging sky and sea. The sunset reflected against the palace’s surface, creating a dazzling gleam of sapphire that reflected back against the sea. One tower had large stained glass windows spiraling its length, its splashes of bright color somehow not clashing with the blue stone.

“It’s amazing,” Eddie said. “How did we not know about this?”

“Two ways,” Robin said, “either finding workers who we knew wouldn’t tell either one of you, or altering their memories with magic. But this isn’t what I really wanted to show you.”

Robin turned and dashed further into the forest. Richie and Eddie shared a look, one questioning the other what was going on, the other asking why the other prince was confused when he was the one who spent a lot of time with him, and telling him he didn’t want to be picked up again.

The two princes followed after the Puck, wondering what Robin had to show them instead of letting them go to their new home and crawl into bed. That thought made them realize there was the chance that there would be a single bed for the both of them.

Spoiler: there are two beds for them. Sure Oberon and Titania arranged this marriage for them, but the hope was they would fall in love over the course of the year and not immediately. In fact, they have two separate suites in a large wing of the palace. It’s the point closest to the lagoon, and the central area opens directly into the ocean to let the Seelie prince swim whenever he wishes to. But Richie and Eddie couldn’t have known that, so their thoughts were on the bed they would have to share.

“Here we are,” Robin said, as he used his magic for the second time today to clear away a wall of leaves. The first thing the princes saw was the rainbow the waterfall made. Its colors were fleeting, as every moment the spray changed, refracting the light in ways that could never be repeated again. The waterfall emptied into a wide pool, about thirty feet across and almost a perfect circle. Lilies grew near the waterfall, but the rest of the pool appeared much deeper. A rushing river on the other side drained the water away from them.

“What is this?” Eddie asked. He walked to the water’s edge and stuck a foot in, careful not to get too wet and shift back into his merman form.

“It’s a lake,” Richie said. “It’s basically a small ocean, but hell of a lot smaller and not salty.”

Robin laughed and Eddie glared at Richie. The glare masked Eddie actually finding the stupid joke funny.

“It’s a nice, quiet place,” Robin said. “I thought that I should show it to you.”

“Okay,” Richie said, “but why exactly.”

In that moment, Robin thought about telling Richie and Eddie exactly why he had brought them here, because there was the chance that it would turn out perfectly and everything would be fine and dandy and there would be no more story to tell here. Or they would forget everything Robin told them. But Robin was a little tired of trying at this point.

“I thought that two of you would like it. Being surrounded by all those faeries every day, I think you would need a place outside where you can be alone.”

“Alright then,” Richie said, as he ran for the top of the waterfall while removing all his clothing.

“And that shall be my cue to leave,” Robin said, leaving.

“What are you doing?” Eddie called up to Richie.

“Cliff diving!” Richie called back, now only in his undergarments. With a yell Richie jumped off the cliff and snapped his wings up against his back. When he resurfaced he laughed and said, “C’mon! Give it a shot.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Everything. But I really think you should give this a shot.”

“No. That looks stupid and dangerous.”

“You’re a merman. Aren’t you used to swimming?”

“Swimming yes. Jumping from heights with nothing to catch me, no.”

“Okay, I don’t know a lot, but I know the ocean is at least like, a mile deep. This is like, ten feet.”

“I can’t swim through air fucknuts.”

“Okay then,” Richie said as he swam away from Eddie. “Suit yourself. If you don’t want to get over your fear of something so stupid like jumping off a small cliff like this, don’t do it. There’s no reason for you, a merman, to take a short leap into water that isn’t hiding anything dangerous underneath it at all.”

“Oh go fuck yourself,” Eddie said, as he marched up towards the top of the waterfall.

“Don’t think about it,” Richie called up, “just jump!”

Eddie stood a few feet away from the cliff, and ran forward. He closed his eyes after he jumped, and only opened them when he landed in the water. His legs shifted into his long mermaid tail and he twisted around Richie.

“Happy?” Eddie asked.

“I mean, I’m always happy. But I’m excited you decided to jump.”

Eddie splashed water onto Richie’s face and dove back into the pool, making Richie sputter and laugh. Richie was honestly a little surprised that Eddie had decided to jump, instead of being stubborn. Richie found that kind of cute. And Eddie found himself enjoying the leap, the pool, and even swimming around with Richie. For a little while, both princes forgot about the reason why they were going to be living together, why Robin had brought them here. They were two faeries, alone for a few moments, enjoying themselves.

Before this chapter ends, I need to tell you two important things. One being that Eddie didn’t see the blue spiral crest Robin wore. If Eddie had, he would have recognized what that symbol meant instantly, despite having only met Robin the week before. The second being that Eddie would have also known what moonstones meant, and it would have helped them figure out the mystery as to why their parents arranged all this, and why Robin brought them to this pool.


	5. Chapter 5

After a month of living at the betrothal palace, Richie, Eddie, and the faeries accompanying them had fallen into their own routines in order to keep the palace going. The cooks knew when the princes prefered to eat, and what they liked. The maids had a good rotation for which rooms to clean and who would clean them. Richie and Eddie fell into their own rhythms, which the other would disrupt every so often. Of course at this point in their relationship, neither one of them would care to admit that they liked it when the other prince changed things up a little bit.

So, let’s take a look at one of these times where their schedule was interrupted, they enjoyed it, but neither would care to admit it.

This particular day begins with Richie wanting to approach a specific Seelie faerie. While there was nothing intimidating about this particular faerie, Richie didn’t know exactly what to refer to him as. He had learned the technical term, “swan maiden,” but was unsure if in this case, maiden was a gender-neutral term. Richie didn’t want to assume, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of what the masculine version of maiden was. The closest he got was “swan male who is young and virginal seeking the company of another faerie.” But that was long and awkward.

And at no point did Richie think to just go up and ask for the faerie’s name because he is that dumbass.

“You’ve been staring at me for the past thirty minutes,” the faerie said as he walked right up to Richie. “What do you want?”

“Oh uh, yeah, I uh . . . You’re friends with Eddie, right?”

“Yes. And considering that you’re engaged to him, I thought it would take more than a month for you to come up and talk to me. My name is Stan, by the way.”

“Okay, nice to meet you Stan. I’m Richie, though I guess everyone in this palace knows that.”

“What do you need?”

“I’m wondering if you could help me with something.”

“Sure. Do you want to be more specific or is being vague kind of your style?”

“I mean, you spend a lot of time in the library, right?”

Stan nodded. He didn’t say anything else because while he did enjoy reading, he had spent a lot more time in the palace’s library because of a cute pixie named Pat who worked there. But he certainly wasn’t going to tell that to Richie after he saw the prince ceaselessly tease an undine who said she found a siren cute.

“Good. Do you think you could help me find any books on the Sea Witch?”

Stan nodded again, slower this time. Stan felt rather uncomfortable about the request because of certain reasons that he didn’t tell Richie. Though not awkward enough to flat out refuse him.

“Why?”

Now it was Richie’s turn to feel awkward. I’m sure most of you have felt awkward and uncomfortable in your lives because let’s face it, humanity is an awkward and uncomfortable species. And nothing adds to being awkward and uncomfortable as someone else who is feeling just as awkward and uncomfortable. It just adds unnecessary tension to what really should be a normal situation, because both of you are keenly aware of how slowly time is passing. How nothing is going on. And you are forced to acknowledge that neither one of you really know what to say next.

“Eddie has been reading stuff about the Sea Witch on those, metal things you guys have.”

“You mean the imprints?”

“Yes, those thingies.”

As the Seelie Court is entirely underwater, pens and paper aren’t good for several reasons. The first being that the largest supply of ink in the ocean are squids and octopi, and the cecaelia, merfolk but replace fish tails with tentacles, have had many major issues with the use of their cousins in mass production. The cecaelia are fine to use their own ink for the merfolk magical tattoos, but harm one of the precious little squishy cephalopods? Too far.

Oh and I guess that paper and water don’t mix either.

So the Seelie Court to get around this invented imprints. Imprints are sheets of unrustable metal that words or images are imprinted on the surface. They last much, much longer than paper, though you do have to worry about them sinking down into a dark trench full of sea monsters that would happily eat any Seelie faerie without applying any spices.

“Why exactly though?”

Eddie shrugged. “I guess that, I mean, there might be something from the Gloaming Court that isn’t in the stuff he already has. I thought he might like more about the subject.”

That made Stan feel a little less awkward for reasons he, nor I, can divulge at the moment. But he thought it was a good idea. “I think I know someone who might be able to help us out.”

You have one guess as to who this person might be.

“Hey Pat,” Stan said to the pixie who was manning the help desk Stan had brought Richie to in order to both find the books for Richie and see Pat.

“Oh hello Stan,” Pat said. “How can I help you?”

“Hello, I’m Richie. Though I’m guessing you already knew that.”

Pat squinted her eyes at Richie. “Who?”

She of course knew him, being a Gloaming faerie herself, but liked being facetious from time to time.

“Doesn’t matter,” Richie said, “we’re looking for any books you might have about the Sea Witch.”

“I know there are plenty of imprints about it brought from the Seelie Court.”

“Yes, I know that,” Richie said. He leaned his elbows on the counter to get closer to Pat. “But I need books, made of ink, paper, and leather. Something they wouldn’t have in the Seelie Court.”

Pat nodded, then began sorting through the library’s catalog cards. This took so long that it would be boring to you as the reader to sit through how long it took for Pat to find the right card. In fact Richie himself got bored waiting for Pat. Stan didn’t, because he and Pat could literally could have been watching elfish paint dry. Note that elfish paint takes at least ten times longer to dry than human paint because elves have long enough lives for it not to be a problem.

“Here you go,” Pat said, handing the catalog card over to Stan. “There isn’t much, but here’s what we have about the Sea Witch.”

“Thank you!” Richie said, snatching the card out of Pat and Stan’s hand. They all noticed that Pat and Stan’s hands still touched despite there not being a reason to do so. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

Richie dragged Stan away to find the books. But when they were out of Pat’s earshot—which is pretty far because of superior faerie hearing—Stan said, “Wait. How did she know my name?”

“You mean you haven’t introduced yourself to her before? You know what, I can find the books on my own. You’re going right the fuck back to her and you won’t be coming back until after you and her find a dark closet to passionately kiss in, and possibly do more.”

“Your highness!” Stan said, his voice cracking a touch.

Richie physically turned Stan around and shoved him back. “Go get her!” Richie walked away from Stan before the swan male who is young and virginal seeking the company of another faerie could protest.

Stan of course went back to Pat and asked how she knew his name, and she admitted she had been watching him about as much as he had been watching her. That led to them talking, having a good time, realizing they have a lot in common, then finding a dark closet to passionately kiss in and do more. That led to a long, happy relationship between the two of them with many children and the rest of their friends were basically aunts, uncles, and the non-binary siblings to their parents to those children.

But back to Richie, who this story is really about. Once he found the books about the Sea Witch, all three of them, he found the table that Eddie himself tends to read at. And though three books about a subject in all honesty isn’t that much, for a Seelie Court practice that really isn’t discussed above water, the fact that the Gloaming Court has three books on the subject is impressive, even though they all contradict each other and one even contradicts itself multiple times.

Anway, back to Richie, again, and now Eddie as he walked up to the table. “What are you doing here?” Eddie asked in a tone that was neither annoyed at seeing Richie in his space or excited to see Richie in his space.

“I have something I want to give you,” Richie said, “or show you I guess. These are books in the library, so I guess I can’t really give them to you since they belong to the library.”

“The library is ours you idiot. You can’t give me something I already own.”

“Then I guess that I want to show you something.”

Richie pushed the books over to Eddie. The Seelie Prince looked at them, and when he realized what they were, his heart broke a little bit for foreshadowing reasons.

“Why did . . .”

“I saw you reading those . . . metal things the Seelie Court has.”

“Imprints.”

“Yes those things, about the Sea Witch. And I thought that you would like to see what the Gloaming Court has about her.”

Eddie smiled at Richie, and sat down across from him. “Well first, the Sea Witch isn’t always female.” He paused. “What do you know about the Sea Witch? Did you read anything in here?”

“No. I found those books like, five minutes ago. And before I saw you reading about it, I didn’t know it existed.”

“Really?”

“Yes, why is it surprising that I wouldn’t know about some weird position in the Seelie Court?”

“Because the Sea Witch is the Seelie Court’s equivalent of the Puck.”

Richie mouthed a soft “Oh” at that statement. “You mean the Seelie Court has a trickster serving their monarch?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “The Sea Witch isn’t a trickster. In fact, the Sea Witch is a hermit, rarely coming to visit the Seelie Court.”

“Then why are they . . . the magic.”

Eddie nodded. As faeries are magical beings with ties much closer to the natural world than humanity, it’s their charge to watch over the land. Of course, humans should be more careful about maintaining the planet they live on, because it gives them life, but faeries feel the earth more than humanity. As such, each faerie court has someone who maintains the natural magic to a much, much higher degree than an average faerie. It’s a role that takes a lot of dedication, rituals, and magic.

It’s also a role that requires whoever fills it to remain uncommitted to anyone besides the Court, meaning they can never marry or have children.

“Yes. The Sea Witch makes sure the sea doesn’t turn its wrath on the Seelie Court and on the humans, but instead of being a nuisance for the entire Court, they go off and do their own things. A good portion of the magic invented in the Seelie Court was directly made by the Sea Witch, while the rest of it comes from a Sea Witch’s research.”

“Sounds boring. Why would you want to read about that?”

“I mean, I do read about other things.”

“Yeah, but this is really the only subject you’ve read about consistently.”

Eddie didn’t know how to respond to that without feelings of awkwardness and hurt coming up. So, he decided to change the subject.

“Speaking of reading,” Eddie said, as a segue way to change the subject, “I have something for you as well.”

Eddie reached into a large bag he had carried, and pulled out an imprint about as large as the bag and handed it over to Richie.

“What is this?” Richie asked.

“Don’t act like I haven’t seen you hiding books in your room. It looks like we had similar ideas.”

Richie looked at the title of the imprint,  _ Faerie & Seelie Magic: A History _ .

“You read some pretty desne magical theories,” Eddie said, “and I thought you’d be interested in what my court says about the subject.”

“Thank you,” Richie said. He pushed the imprint back to Eddie. “But I have a reputation you know.”

“Ugh, fine!” Eddie put the imprint back into his bag. “I’ll come by your room later tonight.”

“Oh?” Richie asked as he wiggled his eyebrows at Eddie.

“You know what I mean!”


	6. Chapter 6

Many people in the world believe that altruism doesn’t really exist. That people help one another not for the good of doing good in the world, but for the expectation of getting something in return. Like a child who helps his mother with the dishes hoping he’ll be able to stay up later tonight or have a sleepover with friends that weekend. Or a boss giving their employee an extension on a deadline expecting the employee to start working weekends. This belief asserts that everyone really has an ulterior motive for everything they do, that they want something from one another and have to resort to smoke and mirror tactics and subterfuge.

So when Mike approached Eddie one day in late August, Mike really had an ulterior motive in doing so. But interestingly enough, this ulterior motive was something that Eddie needed.

“Your majesty,” Mike said as he approached the prince. “Do you have a minute?”

“Yes,” Eddie said, closing the book on the Sea Witch Richie had given him last month but he had read several times not only to laugh at the inconsistencies and errors but because Richie was the one who gave it to him. “What is it?”

“It’s with my research. I need some help with it, and I hear that you’re a talented magician.”

“What kind of magic do you research?”

“Memory magic.”

This was a subject that deeply interested Eddie, as memory magic is tricky to manage. A spell that’s meant to boost one’s memory can wipe away everything they know. You can easily remember forgotten things as you could implant false memories into someone. So Eddie wasn’t surprised when Mike asked for help.

“What exactly do you need help with?”

Mike motioned for Eddie to follow him, which was the only answer Eddie was going to get at the moment. Mike led Eddie through the library to his large office, with walls that were complete bookshelves, and even then there wasn’t enough space for all the books that Mike had.

Of course, the books weren’t the thing that caught Eddie’s attention. It was Richie, sitting at Mike’s desk, leaning back into the chair. And for some reason, the prince was wearing spectacles that had emeralds over his eyes. Though the Gloaming prince didn’t have his feet up on Mike’s desk because that would be rude and he liked Mike.

“What is Richie doing here?” Eddie asked.

“Yes Richie, what are you doing here?” Mike asked, knowing full well that he asked Richie to be there, but he wanted Richie to tell Eddie why and not have Mike out him.

“Well,” Richie said, “you know full well that you asked me to be here. Eddie already knows that I read magical theory.”

“And it came as a surprise to me as well,” Eddie said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Richie asked as he folded his arms.

“You know exactly what that’s supposed to mean.” Eddie turned to Mike and asked, “So, what do you need the two of us for?”

Mike then dropped a heavy book into Eddie’s arms so fast Eddie nearly dropped it. “Here. Some of the most complex memory spells are in here, and they’re beyond my ability alone. And I thought that the two of you could work them out.”

“You want us to do everything in that tome?” Richie asked. “Okay. Want us to come back to you in a century?”

Eddie flipped through the book to show Richie that several pages had bookmarks.

“Okay,” Richie said.

“There isn’t a set deadline for these,” Mike said. “Just do what you can and tell me what happens.”

“That seems a little . . .” Eddie struggled to come up with a word that means “weird because I thought you’d want to get this research done as soon as possible and have more of a plan as to what you wanted.”

“Much,” Richie said, and Eddie found that it suited the situation.

“Well, good thing we have centuries to get through all this,” Mike said. “Again, take your time. I understand that you have things you want to do yourself, but I’d appreciate your help.”

Mike left the two princes alone with the book of spells. Eddie moved over to the desk and dropped the book on it.

“Where do you want to start?” Eddie asked. “We have lost memories, memory projection.”

“How about planting fake memories in someone!”

“Richie, Mike didn’t mark that spell.”

“Your point being?”

“How about we start on memory projection,” Eddie said as he flipped back to the page.

“Do you want to sit down? I can’t imagine standing hunched over the desk like that is comfortable.”

“You’re taking the only seat in here Richie.”

“You could always sit on my lap.”

Eddie glared up at Richie’s smile. Eddie wanted to meet Richie’s eyes, but the deep green emeralds made it difficult.

“Those look ridiculous on you,” Eddie looked at the list of ingredients for the spell. Fortunately he knew that half of the listed steps could be replaced with his Seelie runes. But it would take a while to get some of the others. And the fact that it required gnome toadstools, which wouldn’t grow until Autumn started.

“I mean, ridiculous is what I’m aiming for.”

“Well those spectacles make you succeed spectacularly.”

If Eddie could have seen Richie’s eyes, he would have seen the hurt in them. “I need these to see.”

Eddie flinched at this. “Oh. Okay. But, why emeralds? Why all those gemstones that you use?”

“I can see magic with them.”

Eddie met Richie’s eyes as best as he could. “That’s why—”

“Why I read those books on magical theory. I can actually see magic. Well, depending on what stones I’m wearing.” Richie tapped the side of his emerald spectacles. “These let me see plant magic. I have a ruby pair for fire magic, topaz for healing magic—”

“What do you have for memory magic?”

It took Richie a second to come up with an answer. “Diamonds, I think. Or maybe moonstone? I don’t know. My cousin, Beverly, makes them for me.”

“The salamander?”

“That’s the one. I guess I’ll have to ask her.”

“I could ask her for you,” Eddie said.

“She’s my cousin, it’s fine.”

“No, I don’t mind at all, I can do it. Once we figure out exactly what we’re going to do to prepare for this spell.”

“I would love to help you,” Richie said, “but I can’t read upside down.”

Eddie moved to the other side of the desk, and made a point of not sitting on Richie’s lap. He pointed out what he could do with his Seelie runes, and the pair of them decided what their next steps were going to be.

Once they had a plan, Eddie asked, “Why though?”

“Why do I want to find the flowers that grow deep in the Gloaming Court? Because I know them better than you.”

“No, sorry, not that. Why did you start with the whole,” he gestured towards the spectacles.

“Well, when my eyesight started to go, I thought why not make the best of this. Beverly had learned about magical spectacle making, so we decided to try it out. And I guess, I wanted to know more about magic. Seeing it, understanding better how it flows in the world, I wanted to know more, and more. And I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.”

Eddie nodded slowly. “I like that. Your determination.”

“Well,” Richie said, holding up the book, “looks like we have a way to combine my sight with your magic.”

“I’m looking forward to that,” Eddie said in a way that meant he was ready to leave. But neither one of the princes got up to move.

“Do you know what memory you’d like to see again?” Richie asked.

“No. I have some ideas, but I don’t know if I know exactly what I want. You?”

“I want something in the spring. Warm, but not too hot.”

“The spell will project the memory, not make us feel it again.”

“Hush. A day when the flowers are in full bloom, kind of like when we went to that pool. The one Robin showed us.”

“Okay.” Eddie paused, then realized something. “You do remember Robin showed us that pool when we first got here. In the summer.”

“What?” Richie asked. “Really, because I swear I remember all the trees in full bloom while we were looking for a rusalka . . .”

Rusalkas are a kind of water sprite that favor fresh, cold water, and are distant relatives of the merfolk. But they’re also extinct, and just about every faerie knows that fact. Which is why both princes found it strange that Richie thought they were looking for one.

“Have you been drinking?” Eddie asked, knowing full well that he didn’t smell any alcohol on Richie.

“No. I only save that for special occasions.”

“And what special occasion was yesterday?”

“An anniversary. Of something very important,” Richie said, a clear lie.

“Well, it was in the summer, and there were no rusalkas.” Eddie stood up and walked out. But he turned back and said, “Remember what you need to get?”

Richie held up the book. “If I forget, I can always find it in here.”

“Good,” Eddie said. He left, not wanting to address the weirdness that was Richie thinking they had gone to the pool in spring. They hadn’t even known each other this past spring, so it made no sense.

But what made even less sense, was that Eddie swore he could remember a time that he and Richie went to that pool in the spring. It wasn’t when Robin brought them there. So what insanity was Richie going through that Eddie was a part of?

I know the answer, and if I told you, there’d be no point in continuing to read this story. But I hope that you can piece some things together better than the two princes just did. I hope you piece them together better than the two princes will later in the story. But, we’ll get there.


	7. Chapter 7

I know that with me, and I assume it’s the same with all of you, I will sometimes read the tags on a fic before I even read the description, and I will never start the actual fic without having read the tags. I want to know if it will be something that I want to read, as well as if some have things I don’t want to read so I can move along with my life and not read something I might not want to. (Please take note: if there’s something you don’t want to read in a fic, just move along)

So I know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting a very important tag in this fic to come up. And I’m happy to announce that it will come up in this chapter that happens on the first day of Autumn.

This part of the story begins when Eddi picked up an item that he had made for Richie.

“Memory magic?” Beverly asked as she handed over the pair of moonstone spectacles. “Why the interest in that?”

“Do you know the elfish librarian Mike?”

Beverly laughed. “He got you into this? If he doesn’t, he’ll find out somehow.”

“He asked us for some help with his research. I’m excited to see what will happen with it.”

Beverly nodded, for she too knew why Mike asked Richie and Eddie to use memory magic, but she too couldn’t tell them why.

“Richie is going to love these,” Eddie said. He held up the spectacles to his own eyes, but dropped them as the strength of the lenses gave him an immediate headache. “And these spectacles are amazing as well.”

“Too bad Richie looks ridiculous with them on,” Beverly said.

Eddie laughed. He agreed that Richie looked a little ridiculous wearing the spectacles. But then, Richie looked his best when he was ridiculous.

“Tell me how he reacts to seeing these,” Beverly said.

“You can come with me and see for yourself.”

“I don’t want to come between you and giving something to Richie.”

“Well, it looks like you don’t have a choice in the matter,” Eddie said, gesturing to something behind Beverly. She turned, and smiled when she saw Richie, and smiled even wider, her fiery hair turning pink, when she saw the Seelie faerie with Richie.

“Richie, Ben!” Eddie called out. The Gloaming Prince and the kelpie saw Eddie and Beverly, and walked down the hallway to them, both carrying covered baskets.

“What do you have there?” Beverly asked Ben, playfully lifting one corner of the cloth.

“Ask him,” Ben said, motioning to Richie with his head. “He asked me if I could help him find them.”

“What are they?” Eddie asked, slightly concerned and what Richie was holding.

“You remember how you talked about doing the memory enhancing spell?” Richie asked. “Well, Ben and I got the ingredients.”

Eddie sighed, knowing that the majority of those ingredients could easily be replaced with his runes. But they at least would have those he didn’t need.

“Don’t sigh,” Richie said, “I know which ingredients we didn’t need, and didn’t waste my time looking for them.”

Eddie gaped at Richie for a second, until Richie opened his basket. Eddie looked in, saw salamander’s bloom, wormwood, lavender, and other ingredients. He looked into the basket that Ben held, and saw more ingredients for the spell. But none of them were ones he could replace with his own magic.

“How did . . .” Eddie said.

“I looked at the ingredients from this spell that you could replicate,” Richie said, “and found what was similar about all of them. Then I looked at what ingredients fit the criteria in this spell, and guessed. Looks like I got it right.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, deeply, deeply impressed at what Richie had done. It was a little bit like when Eddie learned that Richie read magical theory. Except this time it made Eddie even hornier. And then he saw something in Ben’s basket that wasn’t on the ingredient list.

“Why do you have bluebells in here?” Eddie asked.

“Oh,” Ben said, blushing, “those aren’t for the spell.”

“Good,” Beverly said, reaching into the basket and taking the flowers. “Then you don’t mind if I take them.”

“No, not at all,” Ben said, “they’re for you anyway so . . .”

“So you decide to take some time while helping my prince find spell ingredients to pick what happens to be my favorite flower.” Beverly held the flowers up to her nose to smell them, as well as hide her smile.

“Oh right,” Eddie said. He handed the moonstone spectacles over to Richie. “Beverly just finished making these for you.”

“Oh, Beverly! These are amazing!” Richie wrapped his cousin in his arms and spun her around, causing her to laugh. Beverly’s laugh was infectious, and both Eddie and Ben laughed a little. “And thank you too,” Richie said to Eddie.

“It’s no problem,” Eddie said.

“Now if you’ll excuse us,” Richie said as he put Beverly down, “Eddie and I have some business we need to attend to.”

“Oh?” Beverly asked.

“Not that kind of business,” Eddie said.

“I mean,” Richie said, “it could be.”

“We’ll see you around,” Ben said. He handed his basket over to Eddie, and the two princes walked towards their wing. But they only got to the end of the hallway when Richie said something.

“You’re friends with that kelpie? What’s he like? What can you tell me about him?”

Eddie shrugged. “I mean, I’ve known him for years and love him to death. He’s actually the nephew of the current Sea Witch. Why?”

Richie turned Eddie around, and they saw Beverly and Ben still talking to each other. Both of them standing close to one another.

“The reason Ben helped me get this,” Richie said, “was I would tell him something that Beverly loves.”

“Bluebell,” Eddie said, nodding slowly. “But, shouldn’t you have asked me about him before telling him that?”

Richie shrugged. “I figured he’s nice enough. I just wanted to make sure. But come along now Eds! We have magic to get to!”

Eddie let out a low chuckle and followed after his fiance. And Eddie was a little surprised that he was thinking of Eddie as his fiance, though they had been engaged for the past few months. It just wasn't something he was completely comfortable acknowledging before.

When they got back to their wing, Eddie took the two baskets to store them until they were ready to try the next spell. Leaving Richie in the central room that connected their own two suites. It was large, and opened up to the lagoon so Eddie could swim anytime he wished. Which he did often when they first lived in the palace. But Eddie realized as he was storing witch’s bane that he had spent less and less time in the ocean and away from Richie lately.

“Are you ready?” Eddie asked when he returned with Mike’s book and the other ingredients.

“Of course!” Richie sat down and stared up at Eddie. “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell me how the spell’s going. You can see the magic with your lenses, so just, say what you see. And I know what moment I want to see”

“Oh, but I have so many good ideas.”

“We have enough of the ingredients so we can do this spell several times. We’ll get to your memories.”

Eddie looked over the ingredients and steps again, making sure everything was in order. “Here we go.” Eddie organized the necessary ingredients in a large bowl, then channeled his power through his runes. The runes glowed blue over his body, and he felt his power flow around him, shaping the magic.

“It’s blue,” Richie said, “wait, no silver. No, silver-blue. No, a blue-silver. I guess that it’s working.”

“Not quite yet,” Eddie said. He traced a few more runes on his arms that corresponded to the right kind of magic, and he felt it shift around him.

“Okay, now the threads are going all wonky,” Richie said, “when before they were all flowy.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?”

“It means your magic is going all wonky instead of flowy. I think you did something wrong.”

“I’m sure that I did the spell right.”

“Excuse me, can you see the magical threads of magic?”

“Excuse me, but have you been fucking studying magic your entire life?”

“Excuse me, but have you been studying magical theory your entire life?”

“Maybe if I didn’t have a loud mouth prince running his mouth I could focus on this.” Eddie let the magic drop, as after that debacle no amount of focus or training could get the spell back. “Let me try again, and this time please be quiet.”

“You were the one who told me to tell you what I saw.”

Eddie sighed. “Yes, I did. Could you just like, remember what you see and tell me after I’m finished with the spell?”

“Okay. Deal.”

Eddie took a few deep breaths and refocused on the magic. He thought about the day he wanted to see again, remembering what he could about it. He started the spell again, and glanced back at Richie to see if he was going to say anything. But Richie was quiet this time, and Eddie continued with his spell.

The magic wrapped around Eddie, and he felt his runes glow bright with power. He thought about how perfect it was, now that Richie wasn’t distracting him from the magic.

Then, Eddie didn’t have a grasp on the power. He reached for it again and felt it return, but then it slipped from his grasp again. “What the hell?” he asked the moment the spell ended.

“Well what happened was—”

“I swear, if you use the words ‘wonky’ or ‘flowy’ I am going to do something to you that will start a war between the Gloaming and Seelie Courts.”

Richie didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “So what happened here was the magic had a rhythm to it. LIke there was a purpose to what it was doing. But for some reason, it twisted around on itself into a knotted mess.”

“That’s when I lost the spell,” Eddie said.

“I wouldn’t know because I can’t read your mind, but I’m going to guess that’s what happened. Ready to try again? This time with my help?”

“As long as you actually say things that are useful to me.”

“Like what? What would be useful to you getting the spell right?”

Eddie didn’t know what exactly to say. He had felt the magic, but didn’t know exactly what Richie saw. “Tell me what shape the magic takes. I should be able to work with that.”

“Okay.” With that single word, Eddie tried the spell for the third time. “It’s just long threads, almost a long blanket wrapping around you.”

Eddie nodded. If it was like the previous two times, the part of the spell going wrong would happen any second.

“Okay, now there’s a part directly to your right that’s curling in on itself. Like it’s trying to tie itself into a knot.”

Eddie reached out to where he thought the magic was gathered, and he felt not a wrongness, but an uncertainty within the magic. And he knew just which of his runes could counteract it. He traced the symbols on his collarbones to counteract the error in the magic.

“Okay, so the knot has just undone itself,” Richie said, causing Eddie to break out into a grin. “But now the magic is swirling around your head too fast.”

“I’ve got it!” Eddie brushed a hand over his left shoulder to activate the runes there.

“We’re good.”

Eddie felt the magic around him swirl. It wasn’t gentle or riotous, but a pace that knew where it was going and wasn’t in a rush to get there.

“Make sure you focus on the memory!” Richie called out. Eddie had almost forgotten as he tried to get the spell to work. But he brought back what he could about that day. He liked to think he had a fairly clear image of what happened then, but was willing to be surprised at what they would both see. “I think it’s working!”

Edie knew it was working because he actually saw the blue-silver threads in front of him. They formed into a large circle level with Eddie’s head. The colors coalesced into a pure black, and then into colors again, as they played a memory from Eddie’s past.

_ Eddie followed his mother through the halls of the Seelie Palace. Eddie could feel the excitement for this day, the day when he would finally get the first of the Seelie runes. _

_ “Do you remember everything that I told you?” Titania asked her son. _

_ “I know that today I’ll finally be able to practice magic!” Eddie said, his voice still not having gotten lower. _

_ “Yes, but what else do you remember?” Titania asked through a laugh. _

_ “This is a time honored tradition of our court,” Eddie said. “It reminds us of our duty to the ocean, that everything in the world has its place and we need to respect it. Magic isn’t just bending the world to our will, but asking it to bless us with knowledge.” _

_ “That’s right,” Titania said, her pride beaming out of her voice. “And I do have a surprise for you today.” _

_ “Mom, you know how much I hate surprises. If you want to do something for me, just tell me.” _

_ “I’m confident that you’ll love this one, my little starfish. But there’s still much I should remind you.” _

_ Titania lectured the prince about the Seelie runes, information that Eddie already knew from hours of studying. Soon Titania and Eddie arrived at the top most part of the Seelie palace, where his older sister was waiting with the magician who would give Eddie his runes. _

_ But it wasn’t the cecaelia who had given Maeve and Titania their runes. It was the kelpie Sea Witch, Mab. The kelpie witch’s skin looked worn after hundreds of years of living in the deep sea. But her hair was still a bright green, her robes clean and deep violet, the Sea Witch crest of the whirlpool hanging around her neck. _

_ “Told you that you’d love this surprise,” Titania whispered to her son. _

_ “My dear prince,” Mab said, “I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, that I thought I should be the one to give you your first rune.” _

_ “Thank you Mab.” _

_ “Now, let’s get started,” Mab said with a smile. She grabbed a pot of ink enchanted to stay in the pot, and the needle that she would draw the rune with. Eddie held out his arm, and prepared himself for whatever pain the rune would cause. _

_ But Mab put a hand over Eddie’s arm, and he felt her magic wash over him. “For the pain,” she said. Mab then drew the rune on Eddie’s arm, and he didn’t feel any pain. He didn’t feel anything, which he took as a good thing. Mab did her work quickly, being used to drawing runes on Seelie magicians.  _

_ “The runes are life,” Mab said when she finished the rune on Eddie’s arm. “Life for us, and life for the sea. It binds all things together into the great tapestry that is life. As such, you Eddie, as everyone who reaches their rune day, have received the word that truly ties all things together. Love.” _

_ Eddie found the idea a little ridiculous. Why was love the thing that bound the world together? Why not magic? That was usually the second rune magicians got, so why not the first? _

_ “Careful though,” Mab said. “You still don’t quite know the extent of what magic can really do.” _

_ “Can’t magic do anything?” Eddie asked. _

_ “You still have a lot you can’t see yet,” Mab replied. “But I know that you’ll figure it out eventually.” _

_ “But how can I become the next Sea Witch if I don’t know everything?” _

_ Mab laughed. “I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. You don’t have to be completely ready right now.” _

_ Young Eddie grunted in disapproval. _

The two princes didn’t look at each other for a few seconds afterwards. Richie broke the silence, “You wanted to become the next Sea Witch?”

“I mean, for about as long as I can remember.”

“Why?”

“Well, why did you want to become the next Puck?”

“Because I need constant attention and validation to survive.”

“That’s fair.” Eddie walked over to the pile of scrolls and put the spell down. “When I first learned about the Sea Witch, I guess it sounded . . . phenomenal. A lifetime of studying magic, of seeing how it ebbs and flows all around us. Of keeping the balance so the faerie courts could thrive.”

“But a lifetime of being alone?”

“It isn’t a complete isolation. I mean, you saw the current Sea Witch come for my rune day.”

“Yeah, and then she’ll stay in her little sea cave for the next ten years.”

“Some days, that sounds like a dream come true.”

“How?”

“Don’t you ever just, feel like you really don’t belong here.” Eddie turned back to face Richie. “Like something astronomically wrong happened in your life and it put you in a place where you just, don’t quite belong?”

“You mean you feel like that in the Seelie Court?”

“Sometimes I feel like that whenever I’m with faeries.”

Richie didn’t say anything, so Eddie continued. “I mean, it’s all pointless now. You wanting to become the Puck and me the Sea Witch.”

Richie nodded, then said, “Do you think they’ve found their successors by now?”

“I honestly don’t care,” Eddie said. “It’s not like it really affects us if they have or haven’t.”

Eddie looked down into the water, conscious that Richie was staring at him but not wanting to return the look.

“Well,” Richie said, “let me know when you’re ready for the next spell.”

Eddie nodded, then gathered up his things and went into his room. Richie wanted to say something to Eddie, anything really. But everything he thought about telling him would only make everything worse. So Richie went into his own rooms.

Unfortunately for Richie, he didn’t recognize something in Eddie’s memory. He didn’t think he would, so he wasn’t paying as much attention as he should. Plus, seeing everything through water tends to distort things a bit, so I really can’t blame him.

But Richie had seen the Sea Witch’s crest before. Except it wasn’t on a Sea Witch, and he didn’t recognize it as a whirlpool. No, Richie had seen that same symbol as a spiral around the Puck Robin Goodfellow’s neck.


	8. Chapter 8

The next month passed by them uneventfully. Eddie and Richie would try to work out the memory magic whenever they could, mostly succeeding, sometimes failing. The flow of their lives found a new rhythm, one they found enjoyable.

Of course, it’s when we find a comfortable rhythm that life often has something that it wants to throw into the mix, increasing the tempo and making it difficult to play the musical instrument that is life. I feel like I lost the metaphor there a bit, but I hope that I didn’t lose you.

But this disruption would come from a gift that Richie had forgotten about. A gift that if Richie remembered he had it, it would have made sense as to why he got it. It would explain why Mike asked him and Eddie to help with memory magic. And it would bring Richie and Eddie together. Unfortunately, the protagonist of this story is a little spacey, so we’ll have to deal with his memory for just a little while longer.

That day in late October where the chill of winter is beginning to settle in, Richie had decided to read through Mike’s spellbook on his own. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just browsing through. He mostly focused on the spells that Mike hadn’t asked them to try, looking for any pattern as to why Mike didn’t want them to try those spells out. But Richie couldn’t really make heads or tails of it. The pattern, not the spells. Richie understood the spells, mostly from his work with Eddie, but he really couldn’t see why Mike wanted them to do certain spells and not others.

Though, Richie realized he was looking at the wrong spells. He thought that he shouldn’t figure out why Mike asked them to avoid some spells, but rather, why Mike wanted him and Eddie to test out those spells.

There was the memory projection spell, recalling forgotten memories, clarifying false memories, accessing the memories of another person, they all seemed to be about accessing a person’s memory. Richie wondered why Mike wanted to learn more about accessing someone’s memory. Maybe Mike had forgotten so much in his long elf life, and he wanted to remember things he had long lost.

Though Richie had no idea that Mike didn’t want his own memories recalled. He wanted Richie to remember something.

Richie flipped through more pages, landing on an unmarked spell about boosting someone’s short-term memory. The ingredient list was short, and Richie thought that Eddie’s inherent magic could replace most of them. But the incantation itself was long and complex.

Of course, Richie saw this as a challenge, and worked his way through the spell. Richie expected nothing to happen. And he was partially correct. When he finished the incantation, his memory hadn’t improved.

But the spell did react to the gift, giving Richie a strange vision.

_ Richie loved the middle of spring. The chill of winter had already left, and it wasn’t as hot as summer. And all the trees were in bloom. Flowers dominated the entire forest, and Richie thought it beautiful, especially after the stillness of winter. Eddie said the pollen could make someone sick, but Richie always felt fine. Eddie tended to have an overactive imagination about these kinds of things. _

_ From behind him, Richie heard Eddie call out his name. _

_ “Eds!” Richie called back, “didn’t think that you’d come out here. Though I suppose you can’t resist my charms.” _

_ “I came because I knew that if I didn’t, you’d get yourself lost, killed, or worse.” _

_ “What’s worse than getting killed?” _

_ Eddie looked around the forest and stepped up next to Richie before answering. “Are you really not worried about the Good Folk who live in these woods?” _

_ “Oh, you mean the fae—” _

_ “Don’t!” Eddie smacked his hands over Richie’s mouth. “You know saying their name can call them.” _

_ “Isn’t that what we’re doing out here? Finding the rusalka that lives in the woods” Richie asked. _

_ “What you’re supposed to be doing. Because you just had to go and take that stupid dare Bowers gave.” _

_ “And yet you were the one who decided to come with me, the ever romantic.” _

_ “I swear, if the Good Neighbors don’t kill you, I will.” _

_ “Love you too Eds.” _

_ “Don’t call me that.” _

_ Eddie waited for Richie to lead the way further into the forest. Richie could feel Eddie’s eyes digging holes in the back of his head. But Richie loved any attention from Eddie, even the bad kind. _

_ Richie and Eddie trekked through the forest for a few minutes, their only company the crunching of leaves and branches under their feet, insects and birds chirping in the distance. But soon Eddie grabbed Richie’s shoulder and asked, “Do you hear that?” _

_ “What?” Richie asked. Eddie held up a single finger to Richie’s mouth, and he really listened. He heard rushing water nearby. _

_ Richie grinned. “Perfect!” Richie ran off, and he heard Eddie right behind him. _

_ “So what’s your plan?” _

_ “What?” _

_ “You mean you don’t have a plan in dealing with any of the Good Folk? Why am I not surprised?” _

_ “I mean, just doing what my gut tells me has helped me my entire life.” _

_ “And how many of the Good Folk have you dealt with? They aren’t creatures you can just treat lightly!” _

_ “Well that’s why I brought you here.” _

_ “I’m not here too . . . okay I guess I did come to make sure you didn’t get hurt.” _

_ “See Eds,” Richie patted Eddie’s cheek, and Eddie flinched as if Richie had slapped him. “I do have a plan.” _

_ “Oh my fuck.” _

_ “Come along Sir Edward! We’re going to find a rusalka!” Richie charged forward until the waterfall came into full view. It emptied into a large pool with large willows hanging over it. The pool was a clear blue, and Richie was confident that he could see to the bottom if he got close enough to it. _

_ “Just be careful,” Eddie said. _

_ Richie hopped onto a flat rock near the waterfall. _

_ “What did I just tell you!” _

_ “We’ll never find the rusalka if we be careful. What’s life without a little risk?” _

_ “A long life.” _

_ “Oh hush, we’ll be fine.” Richie hopped across the rocks, nearly losing his balance at one point. He turned back to see Eddie standing ten feet away from the water. “How are you supposed to protect me from the nasty Good Folk if you stay all the way over there?” _

_ “I don’t like this,” Eddie grumbled, barely loud enough for Richie to hear. _

_ “Oh, you’ll be fine,” Richie said, before turning back to the water. _

It took Richie a few seconds to realize he was in his room in the palace and not in the forest. And that he was an adult faerie, not a young child like he was in . . . whatever he saw. He would have just thought it a strange reaction to trying the spell without the proper ingredients. But some details made him stop and think. The vision he saw was with him and Eddie, it was in the spring, and they were looking for a rusalka. Richie had thought he and Eddie were doing that before, but he didn’t know why he thought that. Now, he saw that exact situation play out. Richie wondered if the only reason he saw it was because he thought about it before, and his brain was creating it from what he said.

But Richie would have expected that in a dream. Not a reaction to magic. He needed answers. From either Mike or Eddie, he needed to figure something out.

Richie brought the book with him as he looked for the prince or the librarian. Neither one of them were in the library. Which was the first place Richie looked. And his last idea of where to look. So Richie started wandering through the palace, no plan in mind, just going where his feet took him. He went down to the kitchens where the cooks were busy in the ovens cooking that night’s meal. To the treasury where the leprechaun chased Richie off for trying to steal his gold, even though technically all the gold in there was Richie’s. And down all the way to what Richie assumed was a torture dungeon, he didn’t really get far because the faeries down there looked like they would stab him for breathing wrong.

But no Eddie or Mike. Richie did, however, find his old friend Bill. Who hasn’t been featured in this story by now because he exists beyond just Richie’s relationship with him. And also this story is about Richie and Eddie, not Richie and Bill. It would make no sense to include Bill when he doesn’t have any real purpose in the story besides this one part.

“Bill!” Richie said when he caught the elf in a hallway. “Hey, I have a question for you.”

“Wh-what?” Bill asked.

“I’m trying to find either Eddie or Bill. Have you seen either one of them?”

“Why would I kn-know where Eddie is?”

“Okay, so I doubt you would know that. But I’m confident you know where Mike is. And before you ask me why I’m asking you that, don’t act like I haven’t seen you watching him quietly for the past decade. When are you going to do something about that?”

“. . . h-he’s up in the aviary. He has something he w-wants to report to K-King Oberon.”

“Thank you!” Richie called out to Bill, as he already was heading up to the aviary.

To no one’s surprise, Mike was up in the aviary. But to some people’s surprise, so was Eddie. Hee too was looking for Mike, and thought to look up here while Richie hadn’t. Which is a little interesting to think about. The merman thought to look in the aviary, but the sylph, the air faerie, didn’t.

Eddie and Mike were talking, their bodies close together to keep anyone from overhearing them. They weren’t speaking in low voices though. If they were, they wouldn’t be able to hear each other over the sound of all the birds screeching. In fact, they had to speak louder than normally, and even then sometimes didn’t catch exactly what the other said.

So they didn’t see Richie when he entered the aviary. They didn’t even hear him scream when an angry bird thought that Richie’s hair was its nest. But Eddie saw Richie first. For obvious reasons. Eddie walked up to Richie right as the Gloaming prince got the bird out of his hair. And Mike sent his own message via magical bird. A message about the lack of progress the two princes were having about realizing why Mike asked the to work with memory magic.

“Eddie!” Richie said, brushing a feather off his spectacles. “There you are. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“What?” Eddie asked.

“We need to talk!”

“Hold on, it’s too noisy in here. Let’s get out of here and you can tell me what you want.”

Richie followed Eddie as the Seelie prince left. Though it took Richie a moment to realize what Eddie was doing as he couldn’t hear what Eddie had said.

The moment they were out of the aviary’s din, Eddie said, “What was it that you wanted to tell me?”

“I said that we need to talk.”

“Oh. About what?”

“It’s about, I think it’s about memory magic.”

“You think? You mean you don’t know?”

“Dude, that’s why I wanted to talk about it,” Richie said, “because it’s weirder than your fashion sense.”

“It’s useful when I want to swim,” Eddie said, referring to his medium-length silver skirt. And that was the only thing he wore.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I thought we were just outside the aviary, not in the ocean.”

“Oh my fuck, what do you want to ask me?”

“Well,” Richie said, “since it’s about memory magic, and Mike’s up there, so I might want to ask him as well.”

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to try and have a conversation up there?”

“Let’s just wait. I’m sure that Mike will be down here in a second.”

Mike did not go down there in a second. Or even a minute.

“Dude,” Eddie said, “what is it? When Mike gets down here, we can ask for his opinion.”

“Okay. So, I think that I might have done something with memory magic.”

“Who did you piss of?” Eddie asked, folding his arms.

“Why do you think I pissed someone off?”

“Because I can’t imagine that you trying any of those spells would go over well.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “No one was hurt. No one was offended. No one was inconvenienced. No one got sick. No one is missing. No one was teleported into a cave full of hungry beats. No one has been transformed. No one was made ugly. Everything’s fine. I just have some fucking questions that I thought you, being the magician that you are, could help me with.”

Eddie glared up at Richie for a moment before he said, “What is it?”

“Do you remember when I thought that we went to that pool in spring?”

“And you thought that rusalka’s were still alive?”

“Yeah, well,” Richie said, “I think I might have, I don't know how but, I think I made that memory.”

Richie expected Eddie to say several things. One possibility was Eddie telling Richie that was impossible. Another would be asking for how Richie did it, step by step, and try to recreate the magic. Another was that Eddie might ask Richie what he had been drinking.

He hadn’t expected Eddie to ask, “You too?”

“Oh,” Richie said. “I wasn’t expecting that. When did this happen?”

“Like, three hours ago.”

“That’s when it happened for me. Is that what you were talking to Mike about? What did he say.”

“He asked me to tell him if anything else like that happens.”

“And?” Richie asked, thinking that Mike would have said something else, maybe what exactly had happened, why it happened, and if it was something they should worry about.

“And that’s it,” Eddie said. “What do we do now?”

Richie shrugged, his wings spreading out to accentuate his confused gesture. “I guess do what Mike asked you to do. Though, what were you doing when you saw the memory . . . vision . . . thing.”

“I was just walking down the hall. I ran right into a troll. Thankfully he told me the angry troll is just a harmful stereotype and he told me that he’d show me his favorite cookie recipe one day.”

“Okay, so it sounds like you weren’t the one who caused this.”

“What were you doing?”

“I was reading the incantation for one of the memory spells.”

Eddie gave Richie a look that screamed “What the fuck?”

“What the fuck?” Eddie practically screamed at Richie. “Why did you ask me what I was doing if you were playing with memory magic?”

“Maybe if we both were doing something about it, it would make sense why we both saw the same thing. And besides, it was a memory boosting spell. It doesn’t make sense why it would do this.”

“Magic doesn’t make very much sense,” Eddie said. Richie would have replied to that, if Mike didn’t come down from the aviary just then.

“Your highnesses,” Mike said.

“Hey Mike,” Richie said, “so I saw the same thing that Eddie did. The weird, vision thing.”

Mike nodded. “Anything else you want to tell me?”

Richie shook his head.

“Well,” Mike said, “then both of you let me know if anything like this happens again. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Mike walked past the two princes, but before he left Richie said, “Oh wait, Mike.”

Mike turned back to Richie.

“Do you know Bill?”

“The writer?” Mike asked, keeping his voice even to hide the fact that he absolutely knew who Bill was. “Why?”

“He actually wants to talk to you about something,” Richie said.

“Oh. About what?” Mike asked, his voice barely able to hold the excitement that the elf MIke had been interested in for several years, but had been too shy to talk to him, was showing some interest in him.

“No idea. But it seemed important,” Richie said. “Please, don’t let us keep you.” Mike nodded, then hurried away from the princes.

Mike soon found Bill. And by soon, I mean after several hours of looking through the palace like Richie had done earlier in the day. Though it didn’t help that whenever Bill saw Mike, Bill would get shy and hide.

But eventually, Mike was able to corner Bill in a non-threatening way. Of course, Mike had to ask Bill what he wanted to talk about, to which Bill eventually said that he didn’t tell Richie he wanted to talk to him. So a dejected Mike was going to leave, until Bill asked him to stay and talk anyway. That first conversation led to several others, which led to them developing deeper feelings for each other, which leads to a happy marriage and a happy life. But that’s about as involved as Bill gets in this current story.

Anyway, back to the actual protagonists of this story. For a little bit because we’re reaching the end of this chapter. Specifically, when Mike asked Eddie to tell him about any weird memories he saw. Mike had actually told Eddie something else. Unfortunately, the powerful magic that had been over Eddie for as long as he had been a Seelie prince, kept him from remembering what Mike had said.


	9. Chapter 9

For humans, winter tends to be the time of the year when everything slows down. Not only because cold and snow sucks, but because the cold weather keeps any plants and food from growing. The only thing left to do is hope you have enough food to last the cold months and not resort to cannibalism. Well, the chances of being forced to resort to cannibalism in the winter is low. But never zero.

Fortunately for faeries, as the winter was setting in at the end of November, they didn’t have to worry about cannibalism. Because faerie magic lets them sustain themselves in all weather. So the only thing that worried our two princes was the memory magic. Though I guess they are princes, so they wouldn’t have to worry about having enough food in the winter even if faerie magic didn’t let plants grow all year round. Which would also mean the possibility of the citizens of the courts rebelling against the ruling classes. If Richie and Eddie were human, this story might actually end in their beheadings.

But they’re not human, so this story will end happily.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Richie said as he was reading over the spell. “It lists frozen undine tears in the ingredient list, but it doesn’t mention where the tears are used. How are you supposed to do this regaining lost memory spell?”

“Give me that,” Eddie said. Richie sat on a sofa in the central area of their wing, where it split into the two suites of both princes. Eddie had been sitting next to the pool that led to the ocean, but moved to Richie to keep the book away from the salt water. He sat down next to Richie, getting into the Gloaming prince’s personal space.

Eddie knew how to repair books damaged by water. He just wanted an excuse to cuddle with Richie.

“Okay,” Eddie said, “look here.” Eddie pointed to one of the steps, and Richie leaned in closer to get a better look. And to get closer to Eddie. “Sea stone is just another term for frozen undine tears.”

“Then why doesn’t it just use one of those terms? You can’t expect everyone who reads this book to know that.”

“It’s something that most magicians learn pretty early in studying magic. But you are right. It should use the same term in the same spell.”

“Thank you for agreeing with me for once!” Richie said.

Eddie moved away from Richie in his audacity. “Excuse you,” he said audaciously, “but I agree with you on many things.”

“Like?”

Eddie responded by glaring at Richie because he couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head.

“How hard is it to get frozen undine tears?” Richie asked. “Or sea stones, or whatever else they’re called.”

“You can get dozens of them for like, half an ounce of copper. And I know that there are plenty of undines in the palace” Eddie said. “Though I’m more worried about the daylilies.”

“We could ask the greenhouse to grow some,” Richie said.

“But that would take weeks before we get any of the flowers. And if we miss the day that they bloom, we’ll have to start over again.”

Richie sighed and flopped against the sofa arm. He and Eddie had gotten through the spells Mike asked them to do fairly quickly. And now the only one they had left was a spell that brought back lost memories.

“I’ll ask them to grow the daylilies later today,” Richie said. “Anything else you want me to pick up?”

Eddie looked over the ingredient list before responding. “No. Right now, it’s just waiting for the lilies.”

“Okay,” Richie said. Neither one of the princes wanted to move. Partially due to the cold weather setting in that made them more lethargic. The other reason being their legs tangled together that would both be uncomfortable to untangle them, and they liked the contact.

“How do undines cry though?” Richie asked. “I mean, do they have to come out of the ocean in order to make the tears? Otherwise they would just melt into the ocean. It’d be like if I cried tears of air.”

“Their tears aren’t exactly water,” Eddie said. “They’re denser than salt water and don’t mix with it.”

“Huh, I guess that makes sense.” Richie paused for a few seconds. “Is it the same with you? With merfolk?”

“Nope. That’s just undines. And let me tell you, the first time I cried on land, I had a complete panic attack. I thought that I was going to die, which only made me cry harder. My sister still teases me about that incident.”

“As she should,” Richie said with a smile.

“Oh shut up,” Eddie said, shoving Richie’s foot away from him.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, until Richie asked, “Do you miss it? The Seelie Court?”

“Sometimes. Being able to swim whenever I want though,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the pool, “that helps.”

“What’s it like down there?” Richie asked.

“It’s gorgeous down there,” Eddie said. “I mean, being able to move in all directions instead of just walking.” Eddie glanced over at where Richie’s wings were peeking out from behind his back. “Though, I guess you know what that’s like.”

“Yes, but not what it’s like underwater.”

“It’s . . .”

Richie waited for Eddie to continue to speak, because “It’s” by itself is not a complete sentence. But Eddie didn’t say anything. Instead, he got himself out from the Richie and Eddie leg knot, then dashed into his suite. Richie had no idea what Eddie was doing, even when he returned carrying two towels and a book of metal sheets.

“Eddie, what are you doing?”

“It should be in—there it is!” Eddie held the book open for Richie to see.

“‘Breathing Underwater.’ Wait, do you mean—”

“Why tell you about what’s underneath the castle when I can just show you?” Eddie asked. He flipped the book back towards him and scanned the spell. “It only lasts for three hours. But that should give us plenty of time to explore.”

“You’re serious?” Richie asked.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be? I have the spell here, and it’s simple. I can cast it with my runes.”

Eddie went to start the spell, then paused. “Do you have spectacles for water magic that you want to wear?”

Richie shook his head. “I’m fine not seeing every single spell you cast.”

“Okay then.” Eddie looked over the spell once more, then put the book down. He traced one of the runes on his arm, which glowed in a deep blue. That light spread to several other runes on Eddie’s body. The light lasted for a minute, until without warning, it stopped.

“There,” Eddie said.

“I don’t feel any different,” Richie replied.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Stick your head underwater and tell me then if you feel any different.”

Richie, being the way that he is, got up and walked over to the pool and dunked his head in, discovering that the spell had indeed worked. He ungracefully whipped his head up, splashing water everywhere. “It works!”

“I know,” Eddie said, “now you should get changed into something you don’t mind getting wet?”

“Could I just swim naked?”

Eddie rubbed his eyes. “Please don’t.”

“Spoil sport.” But Richie got up and headed back into his own rooms to get changed. While he was gone, Eddie got into the pool, his legs shifting back into his long tail.

Richie was wearing a pair of silver swimming trunks. Which Eddie noticed held an interesting resemblance to most of the clothing Eddie wore. Which Eddie should have noticed, because Richie got the trunks made specifically to resemble most of the clothing Eddie wore.

“Ready?” Eddie asked. Richie walked into water, and continued until he was fully submerged. Eddie took his hand and led him down into the blue depths.

“You know what?” Eddie asked as they swimmed out into the ocean. “Close your eyes.”

Richie closed them, letting Eddie pull him along the current. The Gloaming prince smiled, wanting to see what Eddie loved so much that he wanted to surprise Richie with it.

“Almost there,” Eddie said a few minutes later. “Okay, open your eyes.

Richie let out several air bubbles with his gasp. The coral reef underneath them held far more colors than Richie had ever seen in the Gloaming Court’s orchards during spring. Harsh eye-catching reds, soft buttery yellows, gentle pure whites flooded the living rocks and anemones. The fish darting in and out of sight changed the underwater tapestry every second.

Eddie swum around Richie, his tail twisted around Richie’s floating body. “This is everyday for you?” Richie asked.

“The Seelie palace is surrounded by reefs,” Eddie replied, “but I usually spent most of my time in the library.”

“So nothing new or different here.”

Eddie laughed. “I guess you’re right about that.”

Richie spun his body to swim closer to the coral, his wings catching the water working against his favor. Eddie saw this and took Richie’s hand and dove with him. An entire school of bright blue and yellow fish swarmed them. A few got so close to Richie they tickled him, letting out air bubbles of laughter.

Eddie realized then just how adorable Richie was when he laughed.

With a few gentle strokes, Richie moved close to some seaweed where a school of pink and white seahorses flitted about. He held out a finger and one of the seahorses broke away from the seaweed to examine Richie.

“What are these?” Richie asked.

“Pygmy seahorses,” Eddie said. The seahorse got closer to Richie, and wrapped its tail around his finger. “They’re the smallest kind of seahorse in the world.”

“I gathered that by the name,” Richie said. And he then realized he liked just how much Eddie knew about the world and magic.

The seahorse let go of Richie’s finger and swam back to its school. “Is there anything more beautiful than this?” Richie asked, looking out at the coral reef.

Eddie looked at Richie, but didn’t respond.

“Thank you,” Richie said, turning to look at Eddie.

“For what?”

“For, all of this. For showing me your world.”

Eddie moved closer to Richie, and Richie grabbed Eddie’s sides.

“There isn’t anyone else that I would want to show this to,” Eddie replied as he wrapped his arms around Richie’s back.

Neither one of them knew who initiated the kiss. They just knew that their entire bodies fitted together like this. They also realized that even though they were halfway through their Betrothal Year, this was the first time they had actually kissed.

Richie and Eddie both wished they hadn’t wasted so much time.


	10. Chapter 10

If you Google the word “cliché,” the first definition of the word is “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.” Such examples of clichés are “Don’t cry over spilled milk,” “Easy as pie,” or “Diamond in the rough.” As clichés are well overused and unoriginal, they should be avoided like the plague in writing. But I do want to talk about a specific cliché for a minute: “It’s always darkest before dawn.” Now this isn’t meant to be taken literally, as many factors change just how dark it is during the night. The cliché just means that whenever everything seems lost and hopeless, something good is just around the corner. Though this metaphorical meaning of the phrase may be as untrue as the literal meaning. The only reason we might think things get better after being so terrible is because compared to a zero, anything is an improvement.

But in reality, I want to invert this cliché. I want to talk about how it’s always lightest before dusk. And I do understand why this cliché doesn’t exist, because no one will believe that the evening is brighter than noon. I mean that whenever we’re at our best and happiest, something terrible is around the corner.

This is literally just a super roundabout way of me saying that shit is going down in this chapter.

Eddie wondered how he could get out of the bed without disturbing Richie. The fact that Richie’s arm was around Eddie didn’t help him escape. So he wiggled out of Richie arm, only to have the Gloaming Prince reach out to pull him closer, which Eddie let him do.

“It’s too early,” Richie said.

“We should have gotten out of bed hours ago.”

“We’re princes,” Richie mumbled into Eddie’s neck. “The entire idea of ‘should’ doesn’t exist for us.”

“We have ‘shoulds’ whenever our parents are involved.”

“But it’s so cold and you’re so warm.”

Eddie sighed, “You’ll warm up once you get up and moving.” He got out of bed, and Richie grumbled and stayed still.

When Eddie returned completely ready from his own suite, Richie had only just gotten out of bed. “Help me get dressed?” Richie asked in the same manner he would ask Eddie to undress him.

“Why are you asking me to dress you the same way you’d ask me to undress you?”

“It can be as sexy as we want it to be.”

Eddie grabbed Richie’s clothing and tossed them at the Gloaming prince in the most unsexy manner one could throw clothing. Though I honestly don’t know how anyone could throw a lump of clothing in a sexy manner.

“Five minutes,” Eddie said. “We can’t keep our families waiting.”

“Shouldn’t we have breakfast first?”

“Richie, it’s almost noon. The Winter Solstice luncheon is going to start soon.”

“Fine! Fine!”

Richie got dressed and ready quickly. Eddie had picked out Richie and his outfits for this day last week, since Eddie didn’t trust Richie’s own taste in clothing. Richie wore a tunic of deep blue, with silver deer embroidered on the front. Eddie wore a long silver robe that actually covered most of his body. Granted, with it being the middle of Winter, Eddie wanted to be as warm as possible.

“You look nice today,” Eddie said once Richie had finished dressing.

“You saying I don’t look nice every day.”

“Yes.” Eddie walked away from Richie before he could respond.

The pair walked arm in arm through their palace. They were bickering of course, but they were doing it arm in arm. But as they teased and provoked each other, they realized that they were both comfortable thinking of this palace as theirs; thinking of them as a pair instead of two princes thrown together in these strange circumstances. And they liked it.

“Ready for this?” Richie asked Eddie when they reached the doors that lead into the palace’s dining room.

Eddie smiled up at Richie. “Of course.”

Both of them thought that it wasn’t going to be that bad. After all, the two princes had fallen in love, and that’s what Oberon and Titania wanted.

Unfortunately, the terrible thing coming doesn’t happen because of Oberon or Titania.

Richie pushed the door open. A long silver table that could seat eight people sat in the center of the room, Titania on the left end and Oberon on the right. Maeve sat next to her mother, the two of them had been talking when Richie and Eddie entered. But the other two people at the table surprised both Richie and Eddie.

Beverly sat next to Oberon, and Ben next to her, between Beverly and Maeve. Beverly wasn’t too much of a surprise, since she was Richie’s cousin. But both princes thought that this was just going to be immediate family. But that still couldn’t explain exactly what Ben was doing there.

“Good, you’re here,” Titania said. “I was worried that Prince Richard’s tendencies might have rubbed off on you.” Despite her reprimand, Titania was smiling.

“I mean,” Richie said, “I have rubbed off on him.”

Eddie went beet red and smacked Richie’s arm. Oberon and Beverly laughed. Ben had absolutely no idea how to react and looked around in confusion. Mave covered my mouth with a napkin to hide her smile. Titania stared blankly at Richie, even though she was laughing internally.

“Please sit down so we can get started,” Titania said, still not betraying her true feelings of Richie’s innuendo.

The two princes sat down across from Mave, Beverly, and Ben, each sitting closer to their own parent.

“So,” Oberon said when he got this laughter under control, “six months. The Betrothal Year is halfway done.”

“It has gone by quickly, I will say,” Eddie said.

“And you two appear to be getting along,” Titania said.

“Oh,” Richie said, “your son here is the best guy I’ve ever met. Though I had to get past his angry exterior to learn that.”

Eddie chuckled. “I guess I can’t deny that. But at least my anger is my exterior. You’re terrible all the way through.”

“And proud of it, thank you very much.”

That got Titania laughing, which meant the rest of the table laughed as well.

“He gets that from his father,” Beverly said.

“Don’t listen to her,” Oberon replied, “it’s all your mother’s side. Both of your mothers.”

Beverly picked up a grape and threw it at Oberon’s face. The Gloaming king caught it in his mouth.

Which is when Richie noticed the large brooch and ring Oberon wore. Both made of moonstone. Richie thought it meant nothing. A weird coincidence and nothing more. But he wouldn’t be thinking that, if he knew what Eddie saw.

For Eddie saw around his mother’s neck a large moonstone necklace.

“Thank heavens you two got invited,” Richie said to Beverly and Ben, “can you imagine what this would be like if I was the only interesting person at this table?”

“Was that supposed to be offensive to me?” Maeve asked.

“Oh absolutely,” Richie said.

“Your majesty,” Maeve said, “do you have any other children that my brother could marry? I fear there’s something wrong with this one.”

“Do you really think I would want another one after him?”

“Fair point,” Maeve said, returning her attention to the potatoes on her plate.

“Well,” Richie said, “I guess there’s my cousin here.” He pointed towards Beverly. “But can you imagine a salamander falling in love with someone in the Seelie Court?”

The awkward silence that came from Beverly and Ben clued Richie into the fact that he said something he shouldn’t have.

“Ben?” Eddie asked. “What’s going on?”

“I suppose we should tell you why your parents invited us,” Ben said. “Beverly and I are engaged.”

Richie and Eddie didn’t know exactly what to say at first. They had no indication of how much the two of them cared for each other. Well, Richie and Eddie knew that Ben wanted to give something to Beverly that she loved, but that was it. They didn’t notice the tender feelings that grew between Beverly and Ben because they were too caught up in their own feelings for one another. As well as working out the memory magic. So the princes hadn’t noticed the moments they would find to see one another. The small, daily gifts. The moment in the Summer Solstice when they first saw each other and realized that something about the other person completed them. How Ben hadn’t thought Beverly could never love a water faerie. How Beverly thought he would never see her because he loved the sea, and how could anyone like that fall in love with a fire faerie? How they both had spent time figuring out a way for Beverly to survive in water so they could be together. Of the moment three months ago when they realized that they didn’t care about that, they would find a way to make it work.

And as the narrator of Richie and Eddie’s story, not Beverly and Ben’s, I hadn’t noticed it before either.

“Beverly!” Richie said. “Congratulations!” He moved around the table and wrapped his cousin in a big hug. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“It’s only been a week,” Beverly said, “and we thought that today would be the best place to tell you, with everyone here.”

“You did,” Ben said, “I wanted to tell everyone. I wanted to let the entire world know that we’re together.”

“Well,” Eddie said, “congratulations. This is exciting news. Though . . .”

Everyone knew what Eddie was going to ask, though it was a forward of him to ask that right of the bat.

“We’re going to figure that out,” Ben said. “If it means living in the Gloaming Court for the rest of my life, it’s worth it.”

“Wait,” Richie said, pulling away from Beverly. “If my father and Queen Titania invited you two, how did they find out?”

“Do you remember when I went to the Seelie Court two days ago?” Ben asked.

“No. Why should I?”

“Because I told you that morning when I saw you at breakfast and asked you to tell Eddie that I couldn’t meet him for lunch like we had planned.”

“Wait,” Eddie said, “you knew about that? The two of us looked for Ben for two hours because he didn’t show up.”

“I guess I might remember something about Ben telling me to give you a message. But can you blame me? He talked to me before eight. I can’t be expected to remember anything anyone tells me at that time in the morning.”

“And here I thought I was going to have a nice Solstice,” Maeve said to no one in particular. Oberon and Titania watched how their children were going to resolve this issue. If popcorn had been invented in faerie culture, the two monarchs would have wished they had a bucket to share.

“Oh my fuck!” Eddie said. “I literally asked you if you had seen Ben, knew any reason why he wouldn’t have showed up, if you thought that anything had happened to him, and you told me nothing.”

“Well, after an hour of searching, I remembered that he might have told me something.”

“Should we stop them?” Ben asked Beverly.

“No,” Beverly replied. “This is the kind of thing that you just need to watch and let Richie get it out of his system.”

“I’m more worried about Eddie,” Ben said, “I don’t think he’ll get this out of his system.”

“I would have preferred that to you letting me continue to look like an idiot for another fucking hour!”

Richie shrugged. “Well I guess I was worried that you would get angry and yell at me. Kind of like you’re doing right now. Though if I’m being honest, it’s kind of hot and I wish I did tell you.”

“You are fucking impossible!” Eddie spat out.

“Can we return our attention,” Titania said, “to the actual happy couple in the room?”

“Are you saying that Eddie and I aren’t happy?” Richie asked.

Titania met Richie’s stare.

“Good point,” Richie said, then sat down again.

“Thank you,” Titania said. Which was the exact moment that Richie saw her necklace.

“Oh, my queen,” Richie said. “That’s a beautiful necklace. Why moonstones?”

“I find them intriguing,” she replied, “beautiful, and they can hold powerful magic.”

Eddie then saw the moonstones that Oberon wore. “Looks like you aren’t the only one who feels the same.”

“Really? I had no idea they were so magical,” Oberon asked. “I just thought they went with my outfit.”

Oberon lied, but only Titania knew that. And I guess you do too now.

“Memory magic,” Ben said. “What? My aunt’s the Sea Witch. I know a thing or two about magic. Are you trying to conjure up a long forgotten secret through magic?”

The irony of Ben’s statement is that he was completely correct.

The second irony was that a secret was revealed in that moment.

“Can I see you ring and brooch?” Eddie asked Oberon.

“Why?” the king replied.

“Mike, the elf librarian, he’s actually been asking Richie and I to test out some memory magic of his own. I’m just curious to see if your stones might have some magic in them.”

Oberon nodded, and passed over his jewelry. He knew full well that his stones had magic within them, and that Mike had asked Richie and Eddie to test the memory magic.

In fact, Oberon had been the one who told Mike to get the princes’ help.

“Wish I brought my moonstones spectacles,” Richie said, tapping the side of his clear diamond pair.

“I can manage on my own you know,” Eddie said. He held the ring and the brooch in his hands, probing them with his own magic. And Eddie found nothing. At first. But he realized that there was something deeper held within the stones, and when he touched it, he saw something interesting.

_ “I don’t like this,” Eddie grumbled, barely loud enough for Richie to hear. _

_ “Oh, you’ll be fine,” Richie said, before turning back to the water. _

_ Eddie looked down at the water, where the rusalka could be hiding, waiting to pull Richie under the water. The water was clear though, but couldn’t a faerie use magic to make itself invisible? He hated doing this, but he couldn’t let Richie wander out in these woods alone. He loved Richie too much for that. Even if Eddie couldn’t tell Richie that. _

_ “Could you hurry it up?” Richie called back. “Our mother’s will kill us if we aren’t back by sunset.” _

_ “That’s hours away, and I’m being cautious here,” Eddie retorted. “Something you should be doing.” _

_ “Sounds boring, so no.” _

_ Eddie groaned at Richie’s stupidity, and then jumped to the next rock. _

_ Where he slipped and fell into the water. The current pulled Eddie downstream so fast he didn’t know if Richie knew what happened. _

_ He didn’t, which made this even that more tragic. _

_ Eddie struggled against the water, but the more he struggled, the more it seemed to fight against him. Eddie doesn’t know which way is up or down, so even if he could gain control, would he swim down to his doom? _

_ But it doesn’t matter. None of it does. The current pulls him further downstream, unable to try and save himself. To get back to Richie. _

That was the memory Eddie saw in the brooch. Here’s what he saw in the ring.

  
  


_ Maeve had wanted to see what the world was like above the surface for weeks. She had been nervous to ask her mother, for the queen was too busy to spend time with her daughter. But Titania had noticed Maeve’s mood, and when Titania asked what was bothering her daughter, Maeve let everything spill. _

_ So Titania had decided to take her daughter up to the surface, just the two of them. Maeve thought it was going to be the best day in the world. And she was partially correct. Something stopped them from reaching that surface. _

_ But that new thing was Maeve’s new younger brother. _

_ “It’ll feel weird,” Titania said, “when your tail turns into legs. Remember, on the surface you can only walk. You won’t have the same freedom of movement as down here.” _

_ “Mother . . .” _

_ “And don’t talk to anyone up there unless I’m with you. I know you can take care of yourself, but this will all be new to you.” _

_ “Mother, what’s that?” Maeve pointed to something that was floating through the water. Something that she thought shouldn’t be in the water. _

_ She swam closer to it, and saw a dark-haired human boy. He was a few years younger than herself, and he looked so pale in the water. “Mother,” Maeve called back, “it’s a human!” _

_ Titania shot towards her daughter to look at the lost boy. The Seelie Queen felt the boy’s cheek and said, “He’s still alive.” _

_ “He’s alive? Can’t we do something to save him?” Maeve looked up towards the surface, which was so far away. Could they get the boy up there in time? _

_ “We can’t save him,” Titania says. “The ocean has already claimed him.” _

_ “No! We must be able to do something.” _

_ Titania looked over at her daughter, then at the boy. “Yes. There is something we can do. But he won’t be able to return to the surface.” _

_ “What do you . . . oh.” Maeve knew of the magic her mother spoke of. It was powerful and ancient, and something rarely done, but possibly the boy’s only hope. _

_ Titania took the human into her arms and whispered to him, “Hold on. And please, forgive me for what I’m about to do.” She held out a hand for Maeve to grasp. _

_ “What do I need to do?” Maeve asked. _

_ “Just focus your magic through me.” _

_ Titania then spoke Ancient Sylvan, a language that Maeve herself still didn’t know. She picked up a word here and there, but she knew that if Maeve had found this boy alone, the boy wouldn’t survive. _

_ Maeve watched as the boy’s legs twisted in on themselves, bones cracking and rearranging themselves. Until they formed a long tail. And gills opened up on Eddie’s neck. _

_ “I’m sorry,” Titania said, “but we need to go home. I promise we’ll find time to see the surface.” _

_ Maeve nodded. She was disappointed, but understood that this boy, now completely lost to the human world, had a more pressing need. “What will happen to him?” _

_ Titania looked at the boy and smiled. “He shall be your younger brother. The prince of the Seelie Court.” _

_ They swam in silence for a few minutes, until Maeve asked, “What’s his name?” _

_ “That . . . that’s a good question.” _

_ “I like the name Tam Lin,” Maeve said. “It could suit him.” _

_ Maeve startled when the boy moved and spoke. “Ri—” he said, not quite coherent. _

_ “What’s he saying?” Maeve said, moving closer to her mother. _

_ “Listen to me,” Titania said to the boy. “You’ve been transformed. The magic will lock your human memories, and it’s happening quickly. But before you go, I need to know something. What is your name?” _

_ The boy stirred a bit more, then answered. “Eddie.” _

_ “Eddie,” Maeve said. _

_ “Prince Eddie,” Titania said. “Welcome home.” _

“Eddie?” Richie cried. It took the Seelie Prince a few seconds to realize that he was on the floor, his chair on its side right next to him. And Richie was holding him, trying to get him to move.

“Richie, I’m okay,” Eddie said. Richie let out a large sigh when Eddie spoke, but didn’t let go of him.

“What happened?” Maeve asked, as she, as well as Beverly and Ben, crouched over the two princes. But Oberon and Titania remained seated, for they knew exactly what happened with Eddie.

“Let go of me,” Eddie said. Richie ddi, more at Eddie’s tone than his words. The Seelie prince stood up, faced his mother, and said, “We need to talk.”

Titania nodded. She gave a quick glance to Richie. Eddie thought it was her eyes just wandering. But Titania looked at the Gloaming prince because she was wondering why the magic didn’t work on him as well. She then stood, and gestured for Eddie to follow her.

“What the fuck?” Eddie asked the moment he closed the door behind him.

“Interesting question,” Titania said. “Though I would like at least some context for your anger.”

“Those moonstones, they had my memories. They had Maeve’s memories as well. And . . . and I was human. You took me from my home. How could you?”

“If you saw Maeve’s memory, you know that we had no choice. It was either let you die, or this.”

“Then why did you keep this a secret from me? Why did you never tell me the truth.”

“Oh, I have.”

Eddie started at the Seelie Queen for several long seconds as he tried to process what she told him. He thought that he would remember Titania telling him the truth about him not being a true prince, a true faerie.

Except, in that moment, Eddie remembered his mother telling him that. He remembered several instances when it happened. A time when he was young, not much older than when turned. Right before he got his first magic rune. The night of the Solstice when he got engaged to Richie, where it was both Titania and Maeve. And many more. Seemingly random days when Titania would idly tell him the truth, that he isn’t her real son, he wasn’t born a faerie. And everytime, Eddie went in a sort of trance, or space out for a moment. He’d then continue with whatever he had been doing, as if she had never said anything.

“That’s the nature of this kind of magic,” Titania said. “It will keep anyone from telling you the truth, until you discover it for yourself.”

“How could you?”

“Do you think I wanted this?” Titania asked, a sharpness in her voice that Eddie hadn’t heard since he was a child. “Do you think it makes me happy to be unable to let you know everything? Eddie, even though we took you from your home, you are still my son. It broke my heart every single day that I had to lie to you. Please, believe me.”

Titania went to cup her son’s cheek, but Eddie smacked her hand away.

“I saw Richie there,” Eddie said. “That day when I turned. What does he have to do with this? Why was I friends with a faerie?”

“He was the one who brought you to the forest that day,” Titania said.

“He knew,” Eddie said. “He would have known that rusalkas are extinct. So why would he . . . that fucking trickster.” He turned away from Titania and charged back into the room.

“Eddie!” Richie said when Eddie came back in, but when he saw Eddie’s glare, he asked, “Eddie? What’s wrong?”

Eddie responded by grabbing Richie’s arm and dragging him out of the room and away from the other faeries. Richie wondered what was going through Eddie’s head right now. Part of him enjoyed how much Eddie was manhandling him, but he always knew that there was a huge problem with how Eddie was acting. He hoped that whatever was going on, he and Eddie would be able to solve it soon.

“Eddie,” Richie said when Eddie stopped moving, “what’s going on? What happened in there? What did your mother say to you?”

“She isn’t my mother. I’m not a prince. This is all a sham of a life.”

“Okay, I think you just need a minute to think and breathe.” Richie said. “And please just, tell me everything.”

“I was human,” Eddie said. “I was human, until Titania changed me into this.”

“Oh, Eddie. Eddie, I’m so sorry.” Richie stepped closer to hug his fiance, but Eddie pushed him away.

“You were there Richie.”

“What?”

“Titania found me because I fell into a river and nearly drowned. But you were the one who was leading me through the forest.”

“Eddie, what are you saying?”

“You were there. You led me into the woods to find an extinct faerie.”

“What? Why would I do that.”

Eddie looked at Richie, really looking him over. He remembered the stories he had heard about the Gloaming prince, the trickster, the aspiring Puck, the one faerie that had angered and offended as well as charmed every single faerie in the Gloaming Court, as well as faeries in many other courts. This prince, who ever since he was young, had one goal in mind, and did everything he could to get there.

“You know why,” Eddie said. “Why would you take a poor, unsuspecting human out into the woods for a pointless chase? Why would a prankster ever do something like that to an innocent mortal?”

Richie blanched. “You think that I would have lured you out into the woods to hurt you?”

“Can you deny that you were the one that day who brought me out there? That everything that happened is because of you?”

“Eddie, I didn’t even remember that day until it came back to both of us.”

“But you did. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have never gone to that pool. I never would have fallen in. I would still be human. I would be home.”

“Eddie . . .”

“How could you have forgotten that? How could you have forgotten about me? About the boy you led into the forest and lost?”

“I don’t know! I probably would have said something I knew my fiance was a human I once lost in a river. If I had even remembered that!”

“How many others? How many other mortals have you forgotten about? My entire life completely changed because of you.”

But Richie couldn’t answer that. Which Eddie took to mean that Richie didn’t want to answer that, because the truth would hurt Eddie.

But the truth, that neither prince could remember, would only hurt both of them more. It would hurt them until Richie himself remembered the truth of his own past.

“I’m sorry,” Richie said. It was all he could say at the moment.

Eddie stepped away from Richie. “How can I forgive you?”

While the two princes had this talk, Oberon, Titania, Maeve, Beverly, and Ben had their own discussion about the two princes. About why the magic only affected Eddie, and not Richie. The two monarchs had been planning the magic for years, but when it was time, it hadn’t worked on Richie. Robin had given him the moonstones the first day of the Betrothal Year, and Beverly had made the moonstone spectacles for him. So what had gone wrong? It was a puzzle that they needed to figure out, and in the matter of minutes, they would learn that the puzzle needed to be solved in a matter of days.

For at that moment, a Seelie messenger ran up to Richie and Eddie. “Your highnesses,” the messenger said. “Where is Queen Titania? I have an urgent message for her.”

“She’s in there,” Eddie said, “I’ll show you in.” Eddie knew that the messenger could easily open a door that was five feet away from him by himself, but Eddie needed a reason to end the discussion with Richie.

“Your majesty,” the messenger said when he saw Titania, bowing low to her. “I have a dire message for you.”

“Is it Mab?” Ben asked.

The messenger turned towards him. “Yes. The Sea Witch’s illness has advanced faster than we thought. She doubts that she’ll last more than a week.”

And that was the message that made everyone realize they had days to get their plan into motion.

Have you ever waited for something amazing to happen that when it finally did come around, you overhyped it so much the real thing was disappointing? Maybe you were expecting to get a specific gift for a birthday, and when you got it, it wasn’t as exciting as you imagined? Or when you graduated from school and entered the real world, you realized that there’s a lot going on that you don’t want to really deal with?

Eddie was going through a similar feeling when he heard that Mab, the Sea Witch, was dying. It was like opening a present and realizing the reality isn’t as good as the expectation. Though what he was feeling was more along the lines of opening a disappointing present that was trapped, and the trap ended up killing someone close to you, both emotionally and physically, and destroying a relationship with someone else close to you, this time not necessarily physically but definitely emotionally.

“What do I need to do?” Eddie asked. Everyone in the room turned towards him. “My queen,” Eddie said, “we don’t have much time.”

“Eddie, what are you talking about?” Titania asked. She knew full well what Eddie was going to say, but part of her hoped that by asking this, he would change his mind. But she failed.

“I’m the only one who can become the next Sea Witch,” Eddie said, “what do I need to do?”

“Stay here,” Titania said. “It is my responsibility to find the next Sea Witch. Your duty is to the Gloaming prince and the union of the two courts.”

Eddie pointed towards Beverly. “We have the niece of the Gloaming king and the nephew of the current Sea Witch, a Lord himself.”

“Wait, really?” Beverly asked.

“Wait, I never told you?” Ben asked. “Oh. I guess I never did. I’m sorry about that.”

“That isn’t the important thing here,” Eddie said. “My engagement was to create a union between our two courts. You have the solution right here.”

“Well,” Richie said, “if this is your solution, Ben being a Lord is kind of the important thing here.”

“Richie,” Eddie said, “shut the fuck up.”

His sentence not only hurt Richie, but Oberon and Titania as they realized that all their goals were slipping away from them and they didn’t know why.

“Eddie,” Oberon said, “be reasonable. I know there are dozens of magicians in the Seelie Court. And we don’t know if Mab will die.”

“This isn’t something we can risk,” Eddie said. “We know what happens if the Seelie Court doesn’t have a Sea Witch to maintain the magic.”

No one wanted to talk about the calamity of seven hundred forty-eight. Even mentioning it this vaguely is too much for me. For it brings all the images so horrifying, I wish I could remove my brain and wash it with bleach to get rid of it all. The screams. The screams papa!

“I’ll get my things ready,” Eddie said. “And I’ll be returning to the Seelie Palace tonight.”

Richie wanted to ask Eddie to wait, to think about this, to stay with him. But he knew that no words would heal Eddie.


	11. Chapter 11

Have any of you ever read a book and as you get close to the end, it gives you anxiety because either nothing has been solved and there are only twenty pages left, or how everything has been solved and there are two hundred pages left? So it’s good that we still have several chapters left when this story has gotten to its worst.

Eddie was true to his word. He was back at the Seelie palace that night.

Richie didn’t leave his room all the next day. He still had on the outfit he wore to the Solstice lunch. The last thing that Eddie would see him in. Richie never wanted to take it off, and when he did, Richie knew he was going to burn it.

What finally got him out of his room was the knocking at the door two days after the Solstice. Robin greeted the tired, rumpled prince.

The two of them looked at each other, Robin trying to think of the best thing to say, Richie wondering if Robin could fix any of this. “I’m sorry,” was what Robin got out.

Richie let out a weak laugh. “If only words could fix all my problems.”

“Technically what you’re describing is magic, and with the right spells they could.”

But Richie wasn’t in the mood to joke. He wasn’t really in the mood for anything, even being in the mood for being in moods.

“What do you want?” Richie asked. He turned back into his room and flopped onto his bed.

“I don’t think you should be alone right now,” Robin said. He sat down next to Richie, and the prince covered his eyes with an arm. Richie didn’t respond, and Robin didn’t say anything. The Puck knew that words sometimes won’t fix everything, but someone’s presence can help, at least a little.

“Have you ever been in love?” Richie asked after a few minutes of pure silence.

It took Robin a few seconds to reply. “Once. A long time ago.”

That got Richie to open his eyes. He thought he had learned just about everything about Robin’s life. But he never knew that Robin had been in love before.

But what Richie saw distracted him from asking more about this subject. Though ironically what he saw would lead back to Robin’s love.

“That medallion,” Richie said. The medal he had seen Robin wear nearly every day. The one he thought was a dark blue spiral. Richie realized then that it was a whirlpool. “That’s the Sea Witch’s crest. Why do you have that?”

“Simple. Mab and I were in love.”

That got Richie to sit up. “What? How did . . . what? You mean that . . . but then why did you . . .? What?”

“We met centuries ago,” Robin said. “Long before I became the Puck. I was out near the border of our two courts, and there I saw here. Granted, she was in her kelpie form. I knew that kelpies could be dangerous, which I took as a personal challenge.

“Longest four hours of my life, for both of us refused to let the other win. We decided to call it a draw, and that’s when she turned into her elfish form.”

Robin’s eyes were looking back through his memories of Mab. “She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen,” he said. And it was true because he said it was. Without magic, memory can be a tricky thing. It isn’t a reel of film that we put on, rather a memory is created again every time we access it, shaping it depending on where we are in life at the moment, changing our perception of our past. For Robin, Mab was his biggest regret. Every thought he had of her was golden and perfect.

Though even if Robin saw Mab today, he would still find her the most beautiful thing in the world.

And he will.

When Richie realized that Robin wasn’t going to continue his story due to being lost in the past, the prince asked, “What happened?”

That question brought in the only bad memory Robin had of Mab. “One night, the Gloaming and Seelie Courts were meeting with the rulers of dozens of other courts. The previous Puck had asked me to entertain the other monarchs, which I did. But I did so at the expense of Mab.

“That led to the biggest argument we’ve ever had. I said she was being irrational, she said I was being cruel. We didn’t speak the rest of the night, and I thought she would come back to me, we’d both apologize and everything would continue the way it had.”

“But she never did?” Richie asked.

Robin shook his head. “And you know what? I don’t even remember what I did that night to hurt Mab. I waited for her, convinced she would forgive me. But when the previous Puck left, I knew I had to take over. A few years after that I heard that Mab became the next Sea Witch.”

Richie was learning something new about Robin, the faerie he had idolized his entire life. One was that he once had fallen deeply in love. Richie also learned that Robin could cry.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because when you have something that you want, you don’t give it up. You don’t assume that this is just how things are supposed to be. You fight for what you want in life, and never do anything that will only leave you with regret.”

“What can I do though?” Richie asked.

“Do you remember what I gave you the day you arrived at this palace?”

“I don’t remember, what was—” Richie’s words came out faster than his brain could process Robin’s question. “Moonstones.”

Robin nodded. “Find them, and you’ll have your answer.”

Richie shot up and tore through his room looking for the bag of gemstones he got half a year ago. They weren’t in his closet, in his drawer of underclothes, in his washroom, the central area between his and Eddie’s suites, under his bed, with the piles of magical theory books, or even in his aviary.

“Here they are!” Robin called out after a few minutes of searching. “They fell behind this chest.”

“Sorry,” Richie said.

“You had no idea why I would give you these stones. I don’t blame you for not keeping track of them.”

Richie held out his hands, and Robin dropped the three stones in. “Are you ready?” Robin asked.

“Yes.”

“Then find the magic in the stones.”

“Could you,” Richie said, “could you be a little more helpful than that?”

Robin gave a reassuring pat on Richie’s shoulder. I”m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The first thing that Richie decided to do was get his moonstone spectacles, see what they could tell him. Unfortunately, he saw no threads of magic around the stones. But Richie knew magic was there, because Robin told him so.

He tried to remember how Eddie would use his magic to sense things like this. He had told Richie again and again that it was kind of like if you had a third arm attached directly to your heart. Richie found the explanation a little odd for his taste, which Eddie would retort that Richie’s entire life was odd.

But Richie was willing to try it here. And it worked.

_ Richie knew that coming back to this place again and again wouldn’t do him any good. It couldn’t bring Eddie back, and it only helped remind him of his own mistakes made that day. Richie wondered if it would have hurt less if they found Eddie’s body. Now he had a faint hope that Eddie survived somehow, and was trying to get back home. But Eddie had been gone a month. That small bit of hope made the pain that much worse. _

_ So the only thing Richie could do was come here and cry. _

_ Between the rushing water and his own sobs, Richie didn’t hear the person behind him until he asked, “What brings a mortal this deep into my forests?” _

_ Richie jumped up and turned around, and almost wished he wasn’t careful enough to not fall into the river. Before him stood a tall dark-haired faerie, wearing leather armor dyed forest green. The faerie held no weapons, but Richie knew that this creature before him could kill Richie if he wanted to. _

_ “Forgive me Good Neighbor,” Richie in the memory said, bowing his entire body in half. “I didn’t realize that—” _

_ “Stand up straight,” the faerie said. Richie snapped up faster than he had bowed. “Why are you out here?” _

_ “I . . . I don’t know.” Richie had stopped crying when the faerie spoke, but now he felt some tears come back again. “Fuck, I don’t know why I would be so stupid to come out here again.” _

_ “You lost someone to these waters, didn’t you?” _

_ Richie flinched, but nodded. _

_ “You’re right. You’re stupid to come out here to the site of their death. Alone.” The faerie grinned at Richie, flashing too sharp canines. “Especially in a faerie forest.” _

_ Richie took a deep breath, and said something he was probably going to regret. “I’m actually here to make a deal.” _

_ The faerie laughed. “A deal? Do you have any idea who I am?” _

_ Richie shook his head. “A faerie. That’s all that I know. And . . . I just need someone with your powers.” _

_ “And what does the grieving mortal want from one of us?” _

_ “I want to forget.” _

_ The faerie stopped smiling. “Ah. The person you lost here?” _

_ Richie nodded. _

_ “Why? Why wouldn’t you want to hold onto their memory for as long as you could? You’re still young. You’ll grow and find someone else.” _

_ “Not like him,” Richie said. “I don’t want to live in a world where he isn’t with me. So please, I want to forget about him.” _

_ The faerie looked down at Richie for a few moments before he spoke. “And what would you be willing to give me to forget him.” _

_ “Anything. You can have whatever you want.” _

_ “Dangerous words to say to a faerie king.” _

_ Richie tensed. “You, you’re King Oberon.” _

_ “In the flesh. And you told me I could have whatever I asked for.” Oberon moved closer to Richie, and Richie held as still as he possibly could. “Memories.” _

_ Richie thought he didn’t hear Oberon correctly. “You want what?” _

_ “You want me to take the memories of the loved one you lost. And I want more memories than that.” _

_ “Memories of what exactly?” _

_ “I want memories of sunrises, of beginnings. Of life, love, and loss. I want memories that you don’t know you have, and I want memories of what you cherish the most.” _

_ “That’s a lot to ask.” _

_ “You come to a faerie king for a favor. A large one in fact. It’s only right that I ask for much in return.” _

_ “Fine. Take whatever memories you want. Just as you take all the memories of him.” _

_ When Oberon grinned at Richie, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had done the right thing. _

Unlike Eddie, Richie only had the one memory to see. But also unlike Eddie, Richie was able to see the entire picture from this vision.

“Oh my fuck,” Richie said. He locked eyes with Robin. “Where’s my father.”

“Waiting for you outside the palace,” Robin said.

Robin led Richie outside, where Oberon was hiding among the trees.

“I’m not your son,” Richie said the moment he saw Oberon.

The Gloaming king laughed. “Finally! What took you so long to remember?”

“The moonstones,” Robin said. “He forgot about them, so the magic wasn’t able to make him remember.”

“I’m sorry,” Richie said, “but I’m going to need answers, and now.”

“I suppose it only right for you to have the truth,” Oberon said. “Well, have it and remember it.”

“What are you—” Richie started, but then it came back to him. Like Eddie, Richie remembered countless times when either Oberon or Robin told Richie the truth about him, that he was born human and turned into a faerie. But each time the magic blocked Richie from remembering that, maintaining the lie.

“Oh,” Richie said. “But that doesn’t answer why the fuck you would take me from my home like that? I just wanted to forget Eddie.”

“I had seen you come to that pool day after day,” Oberon said. “And when you asked me to forget him, I thought that you didn’t have much left in your life as a human. Though I suppose I could be wrong about that. Mortals are so dramatic.”

Richie knew that faeries could be just as dramatic, but he wanted Oberon to finish the story so didn’t say anything.

“I made a choice then. I could take you in as my own, and Robin could shape you into the next Puck. I thought that you could be happy in my Court, and you wouldn’t have the grief you so desperately wanted to get rid of.”

“And then you met Titania’s son,” Richie said.

Oberon nodded. “Imagine my surprise a few years later when I met Titania’s youngest child, who she claimed to have been keeping a secret for a decade and a half, who had the same face as the boy you wanted to forget. A boy who had fallen into a river close to the sea.

“I confronted Titania, knowing that her son was mortal. She of course denied it, until she knew that I had too turned a human. One that knew and had loved her own son.”

Richie groaned. “And that’s why you betrothed us.”

“We thought that even if you never remembered your mortal lives, that same feeling of love would return. And we thought that we were right.”

Richie didn’t know what to say, so Oberon continued. “Titania and I thought we were doing what was best. We never wanted to hurt either one of you, before we came to love you as our sons.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Richie said. “He’s gone. I’m never going to get him back.”

“Are you sure about that?” Robin asked. “Are you ready to just give up now? When you finally know the truth?”

Richie didn’t know. He remembered hating the engagement when Oberon and Titania announced it at the Solstice, but that was their scheme to reunite them after fate had tried to separate them long ago. And now it was completely ruined. Eddie thought Richie never loved him. But Richie knew he had always loved Eddie. He had loved him so much that Richie didn’t want to live in a world without Eddie.

Now he would do that for the rest of eternity.

“Richie,” Robin said. “Remember what I told you.”

“When you have something that you want, you don’t give it up,” Richie repeated back to Robin. “You don’t assume that this is just how things are supposed to be. You fight for what you want in life, and never do anything that will only leave you with regret.”

“Don’t model your life after mine,” Robin said.

Richie looked at Robin and asked, “Are you down for something dangerous and stupid?”

“Always.”

“Then let’s go save the love of my life. Of both my lives.”


	12. Chapter 12

I honestly feel like the best way to get through any lump in writing is to answer this simple question, “How can I make things worse for my characters?” I like it because it creates drama for them, and we all know that drama is the key to a good story. I mean, after all, some of the earliest written stories we have are plays.

So as Richie, Robin, and Mike got their plan into motion in Richie’s rooms, I’m going to try and ask myself, “How can I make things worse for my characters?”

“Are you sure that this is the right spell?” Richie asked Mike.

“You told me you needed it quickly,” Mike said. “I didn’t have time to double check everything, but I’m confident that this will work.”

“How long will it last?” Richie asked.

Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe two, three hours. Maybe an hour and a half.”

“So we don’t have anytime to waste,” Robin said. He looked down into the pool in Richie’s rooms. “Do you know how to get to the Seelie Court?” he asked Richie.

“Nope. But that’s why I asked for some help. Whenever he gets here.”

And of course, it was right then when the person Richie had asked to help him arrived. Ben, the Seelie kelpie, rushed into the room. “Beverly told me that you needed something, and that it was urgent.”

“Two things actually.” Richie pointed over at Mike. “You need to help him cast a spell that will let Robin and me breathe underwater. Then we need you to take us to the Seelie Court.”

Ben started to ask, “Why would—” but Richie interrupted him.

“I was human too. Eddie only remembers part of the truth, and I’m going to get the love of my life before he does something incredibly stupid. Now come on!” He gestured towards the pool. “We need to be ready to go the moment the spell is cast.”

Ben looked over at Robin to get answers.

“Eddie thought Richie was a faerie prince who led him into the woods that led to him being turned into a faerie. But Richie also was human. And was as in love with Eddie then as he is now.”

“Then we’ll have to be quick,” Ben said.

“You think I don’t know that?” Richie asked. “Mab is apparently going to fall over any day now, so I have to tell Eddie exactly how I feel.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Ben said. “Eddie is going to become the Sea Witch today.”

Richie gaped at Ben. Robin mouth a soft “Oh.” Mike stopped reading for a second, but he understood the time crunch they were in, so his pause lasted half a second.

“What?” Richie asked. “What the fuck does that mean? Why is he doing this now? How did you learn this?”

“I got a message from a friend this morning,” Ben said. “And in the matter of hours, Eddie is going to enter the caves of the Sea Witch, and take the mantle from my aunt.”

“Then get over to Mike and help him with the spell,” Richie said. The Gloaming prince paced in the water as Mike instructed Ben on what to do. When the elf and the kelpie were ready, Robin had to hold Richie still long enough for them to cast the magic.

“Did it work?” Robin asked when the spell was done.

“Yep,” Richie said, remembering how it felt when Eddie cast the spell on him. “Now come on! We don’t have a single fucking minute to lose!”

Ben got into the water, and Richie found his transformation to take too long. It took literally three seconds for Ben to shift into his horse-like form, but to Richie it felt like ten seconds.

As Richie, Robin, and Ben raced to reach the Seelie Court, I first should explain some things about the Sea Witch. For their magic to fully reach the entirety of the ocean, the Sea Witch must live in some of the deepest parts of the ocean, where magic churns and boils. And the pinnacle of the ocean’s magic resides in a deep cave, full of twisting passages, dead ends, and all sorts of hungry sea beasts. The Seelie Court just happens to be built on one entrance to these caves. The entrance the Sea Witch uses whenever they would visit the Court. And the entrance that Eddie was going down into in a magical submarine. The submarine was for Eddie’s protection from the sea beasts, because they know to respect the Sea Witch because they maintain the ocean, Eddie had no such protection from them, and needed to get to the Sea Witch’s domain safely.

Eddie looked at the coral submarine that would take him away from everything he knew in his life. He could sense the magic charging the vehicle; it was powerful if it was going to last as long as it needed to protect him. Titania had asked him if he wanted a ceremony sending him off. Apparently when Mab became the Sea Witch there was a week long revel.

But Eddie just wanted to be alone. So no one in the palace even knew that he was going to become the Sea Witch today. He had come in here because no one used this room unless they were sending someone off. He thought about seeing the Seelie library before he left, but that only made him think of the time he spent in the library with Richie. He thought about talking with Titania one last time, but that only reminded him of how she turned Eddie into a faerie. He just wanted to get away from all of it. He wanted to have nothing ever remind him of his past again.

“It should be ready soon,” Titania said from the doorway.

“Hello,” Eddie said, trying to be cordial but failing miserably at it.

Titania swam up next to Eddie and looked at the coral submarine. “I’m sorry,” the queen said.

Eddie didn’t respond, but Titania didn’t say anything else. She knew that any more words between them now would only drive them further apart. So, she would respect Eddie’s boundaries and space. Now all they had to do was wait for the magic to end, and Eddie would leave everything behind.


	13. Chapter 13

Richie thought that it was taking them too long to reach the Seelie Court. Granted, with the circumstances, if it had taken them five minutes to get there, he still would have thought it too long. It took them nearly an hour before Ben pointed out the pearl spires of the Seelie Court.

“We’ll be there soon,” Ben said.

“We had better,” Robin said. “The magic is going to fade soon.”

Even Richie could feel the magic fading. It also helped that each breathe seemed a little more shallow than the previous one. But Richie had gotten better at feeling magic due to Eddie’s help.

The guards didn’t look twice at the kelpie charging to the gates. But they did stop and stare at the two Gloaming faeries riding Ben. Though fortunately the look on Richie’s face had then refrain from stopping them with any questions.

“Where is he?” Richie asked Ben. “Where’s Eddie?”

“At the bottom of the palace,” Ben said. “There’s an entrance to the Sea Witch caves. He’s there. Or he’ll be there soon.”

“I’m sorry, the Sea Witch caves?” Richie asked.

Ben quickly explained what they were to Richie, which I won’t to you because you already know what they are because I explained it earlier in the previous chapter.

Ben rode through the Seelie halls, down long flights of stairs, and past the other Seelie faeries who usually seam up and out of the way of the charging kelpie. But the three of them didn’t see Eddie in the halls.

“It’s up there!” Ben said after a long, twisting staircase. In front of them was a low door, so short that Richie and Robin would have to get off Ben to enter, and which Richie would still have to duck through.

Ben broke through the door, Richie and Robin coming in right behind him, Richie calling out for Eddie.

Richie first saw Titania in the middle of the room. Then the cave’s entrance right behind her.

But Eddie wasn’t with her.

“Eddie?” Richie asked. He didn’t know about the submarine that was now missing, and thought that maybe he had gotten here before Eddie had left. So Richie had hope.

“He’s gone,” Ben said, ending Richie’s hope.

“What? No.” Richie couldn’t believe that. “Where’s Eddie? Titania please, where is he?”

The look on Titania’s face broke Richie’s heart more than Eddie first leaving him did. “You remember,” she said. “You remember everything. But, he’s gone.”

Richie looked at the cave where Eddie had gone down. Why hadn’t he been here sooner? Why couldn’t he have remembered everything sooner? Why hadn’t they been able to find a way to remember before? Why had fate decided to take Eddie away from him now?

He’d lost. He’d lost Eddie.

But something within Richie forced him to ask himself if he could lose Eddie. If he was willing to let him go once again as he had so many years ago. Was he willing to do it? Never. Never again, Richie realized. Never again would he let Eddie go.

Richie pushed off Ben and swam towards the cave. “Richie, wait!” Ben called back when he realized what Richie was doing. But nothing was going to stop Richie now.

When Richie swam into the darkness, he called out, “Eddie!” He hoped that his voice would carry far enough into the caves for Eddie to hear him. He swam further into the cave, into the unknown.

Richie expected Ben or Titania to grab him, them being much better swimmers than Richie. But they didn’t. And soon, Richie left behind the light of the Seelie palace, and he was alone in the darkness.

Just him and those strange noises getting closer.

But at the same time that Richie lost the light, Eddie saw a new light. He thought that it was the Sea Witch’s domain, but soon realized the light was moving towards him. He was scared for a second, but remembered that the magic would keep him protected.

He didn’t expect to see a kelpie with a glowing sea jelly galloping towards him.

“Mab?” he called out to the kelpie. She grinned at him as best she could with her horse head, which is honestly a bigger grin than you would expect. She stopped next to the submarine, and Eddie realized that the craft, which previously had been guided by automatic magic, had stopped moving.

“What are you doing?” Eddie asked. “Why are you wasting your energy like this?”

“Because there’s something that needs to be done,” she replied. “Something I should have done a long time ago. Now come on.” Mab ran past Eddie, back towards the Seelie Palace. “We need to rescue your dumbass.”

“What? What are you talking about?” A pause, then, “My dumbass?” Which was followed by another pause, and then, “Oh fuck.”


	14. Chapter 14

Richie wanted to call out to Eddie, but was worried that his call wouldn’t reach Eddie and instead reach things down here that he didn’t want to notice him. Which they would. If it wasn’t the middle of winter and most of the things were hibernating. Literally, the noises that Richie was hearing was the snoring of the sea beasts that lived in the caves. And because the animals were hibernating, the only reason that Eddie needed the submarine was to get him to the Sea Witch’s domain, because the caves are one hell of a maze.

A fact that Richie was just learning. In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have dove down into a dark cave alone, without any light. But this was where Eddie went. He would follow Eddie no matter where he went. He wouldn’t rest until Eddie knew the truth. Or until he died.

Richie then realized that he might die here. He thought it would be by sea beast, but more likely the spell running out and him drowning. But Richie hoped that no one would ever tell Eddie the entire truth after he died. Their past. That Richie died trying to find him again. It would make it easier for him, for Eddie to hate the stupid, selfish prince instead of realizing just what he had done. He thought it was for the best. Neither one of them would really have to be without the other this way.

So he was ready for whatever that light was to come. Richie closed his eyes, waiting for a much deeper darkness to take him.

“Richie!” called out a voice that sounded a lot like Eddie’s. Richie thought that it was some twisted creature that could read his thoughts and see what he wanted to hear the most. “Richie, what in the everlasting fuck are you doing down here? Do you have any idea how dangerous this place is?”

That made Richie open one eye. He saw the old kelpie first, her green skin having faded to a pale gray. Behind her was a coral vehicle. With Eddie in the middle of it.

The kelpie moved closer to Richie, Eddie following right after her. “What the hell were you thinking? ‘Oh, I’m just going to come down into this maze of darkness and death. I’ll be fine because I’m the son of Oberon and I can do whatever I want!’”

Richie moved up to Eddie and smiled at his ranting.

“And why did you come out all the way to the Seelie Court? And how did you get into the palace? It should have been—”

Richie stopped Eddie talking by kissing him. And took it as a good sign that Eddie didn’t push him away, but rather melted into him.

When they finally broke apart, Richie said, “I was human in that memory.”

“What?” Eddie asked.

“Took the two of you long enough to figure out,” Mab said. “Waiting for both of you to remember everything was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been alive for centuries.”

“I’m sorry, but what the fuck is going on?” Eddie asked.

“We knew each other when we were mortal. After you fell into that river and I thought you had died, I asked Oberon to take away all my memories of you. He took them, and turned me into a faerie, like Titania did to you.”

Eddie looked at Richie, the confusion on his face masking the love that was growing underneath. “And why did you do that?”

“Because I didn’t want to live in a world where I once had you, but then lost you.”

That’s when their memories came back to them. All of them. The moments they could barely remember as children together. Of growing up and becoming friends. Friends that fought, but still had that love for each other underneath. Of when they realized that what they felt for one another was something deeper than friendship.

So Eddie kissed Richie. That kiss was interrupted by Mab clearing her throat and saying, “As lovely as this reunion is, we still have a lot to do.” Mab then coughed. She coughed up a thick cloud of blood. “Thank heavens all the sea beasts are hibernating. Otherwise they’d all be coming for this.”

“What?” Richie and Eddie asked, not sure if they were concerned about the hibernating sea beasts or the dying kelpie. But Mab galloped off into the caves, and Richie sat next to Eddie as the submarine took them through the caves.

They stopped when they ran into a rescue group led by Ben.

“Aunt Mab?” Ben asked. “What are you doing here, what—”

“Oh I’m fine!” the Sea Witch said, as if she didn’t cough up blood a few minutes ago. “But we don’t have much more time. I need to speak with the Puck.”

“How did you . . .?” Richie asked.

“I’m the Sea Witch. There are things I know that would shock you.”

When they got back to the chamber, Titania, Robin, and even Maeve were waiting for them.

The entire room froze around Mab and Robin as they saw each other for the first time in many, many centuries. Mab shifted into her humanoid form, her body still lithe despite her age, a tattered black dress clinging to her frame, long gray hair swirling in the water.

“Mab,” Robin said, his voice so soft that Mab barely heard him.

“Robin,” she said. “Of course, the stupid, wreckless plan had to be yours.”

Robin laughed. “What can I say? Old habits die hard. But it was my prince there who came up with this idea.”

“Mab,” Titania said, “what is going on? What are you doing?”

“My queen,” Mab said with a bow of her head. “We need to get to the surface, and then I can explain everything.”

Titania nodded to her, then swam out of the room, followed by her daughter.

“You can all come and see this,” Mab said to Ben and the rescue party. “If you want to.”

Ben nodded, then followed after the queen with the rest of the party.

That was when Mab moved up to Robin. They both said, “I’m sorry,” at the same time.

“I overreacted,” Mab said.

“No you didn’t,” Robin said, “I was out of line and I should have apologized.”

Mab studied Robin’s face for a few moments. “Do you remember what you said that night?” When Robin shook his head, Mab laughed. “Funny. Neither do I.” Robin joined in her laughter, but Mab’s laugh turned into another cough that leaked blood. “We should hurry,” was all she said as she swam out of the room.

When they were alone, Richie asked Eddie, “How are you?”

“Now that you’re here? Better.” Eddie pulled Richie down to kiss him, even though Eddie could have easily swimmed up to be level with him. “But we should probably go see whatever it is that Mab has in store.”

“Yes. And getting up there before the spell ends and I drown is another good idea.”

“I can give you mouth to mouth if needed.”

“I’d really like that,” Richie said. “But I would prefer seeing exactly what the fuck’s going on.”

“Me too.” Eddie pulled Richie through the halls of the Seelie Court and up to the surface, as Eddie is the merman in this equation. When they got to the surface, they saw Titania, Maeve, Mab, Robin, and Mab, as well as Oberon and Beverly, both on faerie steeds that floated above the waves.

Oberon then said to Mab, “So you were the one who sent that message.”

Mab turned to the Gloaming King and said, “Your majesty, it’s good to see you after so long.”

“I’m surprised to see you,” Oberon said. “Titania said that you were ill, and probably not going to last much longer.”

“She was correct.” Mab waved her hand, and a magic blue circle glowed on top of the ocean, creating a solid surface for her to stand on. Robin helped her onto the platform, following right after her, even giving her support to stand. “Richie, Eddie,” Mab said, “could you come up here please.”

The two princes joined Mab and Robin on the magical platform. “Mab,” Eddie said. “What are you doing?”

“When I became the Sea Witch,” she said, her eyes only for Robin, “I lost the one thing that I wanted the most. I knew that I couldn’t make you do the same thing.”

“But what will happen to the ocean if you die?” Richie asked. “If there’s no Sea Witch?”

“The same thing if there’s no Puck,” Robin said. “An imbalance of magic and life. It’s how our courts have functioned since they were founded.”

“Mab,” Titania said, “what are you doing?”

“Do you trust me?” Mab said to Robin.

“With all my heart.”

“Then let’s start anew,” she replied. She leaned forward and whispered something in Robin’s ears. When she pulled away, Robin was crying.

“Yes my love. A thousand times yes.”

When Robin finished speaking, he and Mab closed their eyes. And they started glowing a gentle white light. But that light grew that everyone looking at the couple soon had to shield their eyes.

In that bright light, Eddie and Richie heard Robin and Mab laugh. But their voices weren’t old. They were young, and full of life and love.

Robin and Mab were gone when the light faded.


	15. Chapter 15

The disappearance of both the Puck and the Sea Witch caused the two courts to go into a near panic, preparing for the land’s magic to erupt without its protector. But after a week, the magic stayed calm. The magicians in both courts discovered that Robin and Mab had sacrificed themselves to cast a powerful spell to maintain the balance of magic in both courts. They were still doing their duties to their courts, but now, after so long, they could finally be together.

Which meant that Eddie didn’t need to replace Mab.

Eddie had moved back into the betrothal palace so fast that it almost seemed as if he had never left. The two princes were inseparable after that, spending as much time together, always touching the other in some way.

“What happens now?” Richie asked one day as they both lounged on the beach. “I mean, you said you wanted to call off our engagement.”

“That was literally two weeks ago,” Eddie said as he played with Richie’s hair. “I’m sure that no one would care if we act as if it never happened.”

“I wouldn’t mind that either,” Richie said. He leaned up and kissed Eddie.

“But it did,” Eddie said. “I almost threw everything away that we had because I was angry at you.”

“But you didn’t,” Richie said. “Fate took you away from me once, and nearly did it again. But, you’re here with me now.”

“Right where I belong.”

The two princes kissed again, both happy that once again, they had found each other.

And that now, nothing would ever pull them apart.

  
  


Because this is my motherfucking story, and Stephen King can suck on a bag of dicks.


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